At least 25 people have been killed in Haiti after a river swollen by Hurricane Melissa burst its banks , flooding homes and sweeping away entire neighbourhoods in the southern coastal town of Petit-Goave, officials said on Wednesday.

Jean Bertrand Subreme, the town's mayor, told the Associated Press that the La Digue river overflowed following torrential rains from the hurricane, inundating dozens of homes. "I am overwhelmed by the situation," he said, adding that rescue efforts were underway but that many people remained trapped under collapsed structures. "We urgently need government help to rescue victims."

The storm, one of the most powerful ever recorded in the Caribbean, has already devastated Jamaica and eastern Cuba, leaving a trail of destruction across multiple islands.

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