Communities across the Caribbean are reeling in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, which ripped through Jamaica, Cuba and Hispaniola, the island comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this week. While officials said that damage assessments remained underway to determine the full scope of the destruction,

Parts of the Caribbean were slowly surveying the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Melissa on Thursday after the storm brought destruction to the region and left dozens of people dead.

Melissa, now a Category 2 hurricane, will bring heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England as it heads toward Bermuda and Newfoundland, Canada.

The catastrophic storm, which caused widespread devastation across Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, is being blamed for at least 34 deaths.

The Jamaican authorities said they were not able to confirm the death toll from the storm yet, but expected it to rise in the coming days. At least 30 people died in Haiti, officials said.

The capitals and exclamation points are warranted. Hurricane Melissa is an extraordinary storm, even among the many massive, fast-growing, devastating cyclones that have been erupting in the Atlantic Ocean in recent years.

In Haiti, 25 people have died after a river burst its banks during Hurricane Melissa. The storm hit Jamaica yesterday, leaving 77% of the island without power. This morning, it swept across Cuba. The extent of the damage across the Caribbean is not yet known.