Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.
After lashing Jamaica with dangerous winds and flooding rain, Melissa made a second landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning. Melissa then moved through the Bahamas, and next, on Thursday night, the storm will pass Bermuda as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.
The Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, could reopen to start accepting emergency relief flights as early as Thursday, officials said Tuesday.
The impact on the airport is "not extensive," Jamaica's energy, telecommunications and transport minister, Daryl Vaz, said during a briefing.
The center of Melissa is now moving off the northwest coast of Jamaica as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds currently at 145 mph.
The center is currently located about 15 miles east of Montego Bay.
Strong, damaging winds, catastrophic flash flooding and life-threatening storm surge continue to hit parts of the island nation.
The core of Melissa is expected to move away from western Jamaica on Tuesday evening, moving back over the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea as it closes in on southeastern Cuba next.
Melissa is forecast to make a second landfall later Tuesday night along the coast of southeastern Cuba, west of Guantanamo Bay, potentially re-strengthening a bit as it moves across warm water again over the next several hours.
-ABC News' Dan Peck
Black River Hospital, located on the southwestern coast of Jamaica, has sustained severe damage and service has been disrupted due to Hurricane Melissa, health officials said.
"Despite the disruption, members of the health team are working tirelessly to ensure the continued care and safety of all patients, with efforts underway to restore full functionality," the Jamaican health ministry said.
The president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, urged residents to move to shelters ahead of Hurricane Melissa, which is expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba overnight.
“We want to stress again how big this event is and the need for people to understand the risk it poses because of its scale," Diaz-Canel said in a statement. "Wind speeds above 260 kilometers per hour can destroy any facility that is not properly prepared. So we are once again asking everyone to use the time left before the hurricane arrives to move to safe areas to face this hurricane."
