A downgraded Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba early on Wednesday after ripping a path of destruction across Jamaica, which authorities have designated a "disaster area."

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Melissa, which it described as an "extremely dangerous hurricane", had weakened to a Category 3 storm before it made landfall in Santiago de Cuba province on the island's southern coast.

It hit with maximum sustained winds of approximately 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, the NHC said, after fluctuating between Category 3 and Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Cuban residents fled the coast as it approached, with local authorities declaring a "state of alert" in six eastern provinces.

Residents told AFP they had been stockpiling food, candles, and ba

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