Nearly 50 dead after Hurricane Melissa thrashes Caribbean

Hurricane Melissa was "moving quickly away" from Bermuda early Friday after the death toll rose to nearly 50 people, officials said.

The ferocious storm has devastated Caribbean islands and is expected to become an "extratropical cy

"After Melissa becomes post-tropical, a brief period of heavy rain and gusty winds is possible over the southern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland tonight," the NHC added.

Flooding was expected to subside in the Bahamas although high water could persist in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and neighboring Dominican Republic, the agency said.

The storm, one of the most powerful ever recorded, was made four times more likely because of human-caused

Melissa smashed into both Jamaica and Cuba with enormous force, and residents were assessing their losses and the long road