The hurricane

The Guardian -   Cuban authorities say 735,000 people have been evacuated so far as president warns it will be 'very difficult night'

A downgraded Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba early on Wednesday after ripping a path of destruction across Jamaica, which authorities have designated a “disaster area.”

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Melissa, which it described as an “extremely dangerous hurricane”, had weakened to a category 3 storm before it made landfall in Santiago de Cuba province on the island’s southern coast.

It hit with maximum sustained winds of approximately 120miles (195km) per hour, the NHC said, after fluctuating between category 3 and category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Cuban residents fled the coast as it approached, with local authorities declaring a “state of alert” in six eastern provinces.

NPR-  More than half a million people are without power, and every region of Jamaica is facing blocked roads and downed power lines, according to the country’s government. NPR’s Eyder Peralta tells Up First that the biggest concern for the country currently is Western Jamaica, which was severely impacted when the storm made landfall with winds reaching 185 miles per hour and generated a storm surge of up to 13 feet. Desmond McKenzie, the minister of local government, said St. Elizabeth Parish is underwater and numerous families are trapped in their homes. McKenzie says rescue teams are hoping that they can get to those families today, and people are still alive.  ➡️ See some photos of the impact Melissa’s landfall made in the Caribbean.