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.

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,

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

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.

Hurricane Melissa brought devastation and death to the Caribbean as it tore through the region as one of the most powerful storms on earth in more than 150 years.

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.

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

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