Hurricane Melissa pummeled areas of the Caribbean already vulnerable to landslides and flash flooding because of factors made worse by decades of deforestation, with risks likely to continue for days as bands of rain pass through, experts said.

Those risks are compounded by loss of trees and other vegetation that help hold soil in place and slow runoff, as well as the development of roads in forested areas, experts said.

The full extent of the destruction wasn't clear Thursday morning. In Jamaica, dangerous conditions and widespread power outages — especially in the hardest-hit areas in the west — have hindered the assessment of damage from the Category 5 storm, which packed sustained winds of 185 mph (298 kph) and dumped more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) of rain in some areas.

“Things are

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