People across the northern Caribbean are beginning to dig out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa , as deaths from the catastrophic storm climbed to at least 28 across Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, with Haiti reporting most of those fatalities. On Thursday, Melissa was moving away from the Bahamas and had turned toward Bermuda, which it is expected to pass later in the day, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In Jamaica, the rumble of large machinery, whine of chainsaws and chopping of machetes echoed throughout the southeast as government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach isolated communities that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record .

Stunned residents wandered about, some staring a

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