Melissa tore through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful storms in history. By Thursday, the storm weakened as it left the Bahamas.

Rescue efforts are underway across the Caribbean after Hurricane Melissa tore through the region as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in more than 150 years.

The storm was making its way to the Bahamas and Bermuda on Thursday morning as Jamaica confronted the devastation from one of the most potent storms ever recorded anywhere.

The prime minister ordered mandatory evacuations as officials braced for tens of thousands to be displaced. Three people were killed and 13 others injured during preparations for the storm, the health minister said.

Parts of the Caribbean began surveying the damage caused by the deadly Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in Jamaica as a powerful Category 5.

Follow live updates on Hurricane Melissa as the death toll reaches 38 people. Recovery efforts are underway in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall along Jamaica's southwestern coast Tuesday as an extremely powerful Category 5 storm.

At least five people have been killed on the island nation after the powerful category 5 storm hit earlier this week, with at least 20 left dead in Haiti.

Ruth Lyn Deer, 76, rode out the storm in Cobie Ridge, a settlement about seven miles from Black River, according to Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner . The woman hunkered down inside her Food for the Poor home, which was built six years ago, and watched as the storm ripped off part of her roof and led to a sinkhole opening up in her bedroom.

People across the northern Caribbean were digging out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa​ on Thursday as deaths from the catastrophic storm climbed.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight after battering Jamaica as one of the most powerful landfalling storms in Atlantic basin history.

Samaritan's Purse sent its first relief airlift to Jamaica on Thursday in the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica and other Caribbean nations this week. (Courtesy of Samar