Hurricane Melissa has hit Cuba after ferocious winds caused power outages and catastrophic damage across Jamaica.
Cuban authorities have evacuated more than 700,000 people over fears of torrential rainfall and wind speeds exceeding 130mph (210kph).
The hurricane, which has been weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm, made landfall in southeastern Cuba at 3am local time (7pm GMT) on Wednesday.
But Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s president, urged the country’s 10 million inhabitants not to underestimate Hurricane Melissa, assuring that all resources would be deployed to protect lives.
Warnings are currently in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas.
Hurricane Melissa is set to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the Island since Irma in 2017, which killed 10 Cubans.
The extent of the damage from Jamaica's worst storm this century will not begin to become clear until sunrise as many Jamaicans were forced to spend the night in shelters.
However, prime minister Andrew Holness declared the Caribbean nation a "disaster area" amid 185mph (300kph) gusts and surges of up to 5.5m (18ft).
"Reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well," he said on Tuesday evening.
Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s local government minister, said more than 500,000 residents were left without electricity, which equates to 75 per cent of Jamaica Public Service Company customers.
Meanwhile, around 25,000 tourists — 8,000 of them British — were trapped in Jamaica after Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay were closed on Sunday.
The mayor of Montego Bay, a major cruise ship port on Jamaica’s north coast, said half the city had been cut off from the other by flood waters.
"It has been a very long wait for this storm and it has been a very long day for us battling through the storm," Richard Vernon told the BBC.
The National Hurricane Center projected Melissa to weaken further to Category 1 status as it crosses the Bahamas on Wednesday afternoon and then towards Bermuda on Thursday.
