Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledges "immediate humanitarian aid" to Cuba as State Department responds to effects of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department had issued a formal Declaration of Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba, where U.S. government aid is rare.

Hurricane Melissa is slamming eastern Cuba on Wednesday morning, Oct. 29, after hammering Jamaica on Tuesday and causing widespread damage.

The United States is prepared to offer immediate humanitarian aid to people of Cuba who were affected by Hurricane Melissa, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday. The department has issued a declaration for humanitarian assistance for Cuba,

After Melissa moves away from Jamaica, Cuba is next in line for the powerful hurricane’s fury. Landfall is expected very early Wednesday morning, likely a couple hours after midnight, but impacts have already begun.

Sagua de Tánamo, a town in Holguín province, awoke to flooding of the Sagua River. In Contramaestre, a town in Santiago de Cuba province, Melissa’s strong winds uprooted trees and tore off sections of sidewalk.

For 17 years, Ana Montes lived a double life inside the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, feeding classified secrets directly to Cuba’s intelligence service. Known in Washington as the “Queen of Cuba,

Officials in Cuba reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off buildings on Wednesday after Hurricane Melissa tore through the island, Haiti and Jamaica leaving dozens dead.