People across the northern Caribbean are reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Melissa as dozens of deaths are reported in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti.

The hurricane – at Category 5, the strongest on record to hit Jamaica directly – ripped across the Caribbean islands on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 25 people in Haiti, eight in Jamaica and one in the Dominican Republic.

The United States-based National Hurricane Center said early on Thursday that Melissa’s eye was expected to move away from the southeastern and central Bahamas before passing west of Bermuda.

Although the storm was downgraded to Category 1, the lowest strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale, it was still packing winds of 155km/h (100mph) with even higher gusts, the NHC reported.

In Haiti, where roughly 12,000

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