Hurricane Melissa roared toward Cuba's second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba, late on Tuesday after carving a deadly path through Jamaica as the strongest storm ever to strike the Caribbean island nation .

The Category 5 hurricane, which had earlier slammed into Jamaica's southwest coast near New Hope as a catastrophic storm, unleashed 185 mph (295 kph) winds, toppling trees, tearing roofs off homes, and flooding vast stretches of land.

The parish of St Elizabeth was 'underwater', hospitals were damaged , and more than half a million people were without power, news agency Reuters quoted officials as saying.

By nightfall, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Melissa had weakened slightly to 145 mph (233 kph) as it moved northeast past Jamaica's mountains, triggeri

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