Jamaica has been left reeling after Hurricane Melissa tore across the island as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, leaving Montego Bay, a popular tourist destination, in ruins. New video from a Hotel Catalonia guest shows debris blanketing the ground, roofs ripped away and trees twisted and mangled from the storm’s winds.

Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5 strength as it neared Jamaica with up to 30 inches of rain and a life-threatening storm surge.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with winds up to 295 km/h, the strongest in 174 years. Streets in Kingston were flooded and power cuts hit a third of the island.

The director of apostolates for a Jamaica-based religious community serving the poor in Kingston said Oct. 28 that the Category-5 Hurricane Melissa seems to be sparing Kingston the worst of its wrath. But he added that the storm was not yet finished and much remained unknown about the historic hurricane’s impact in the region.

Melissa’s 185 mph winds rival the most intense Atlantic storms on record. The Category 5 hurricane is threatening Jamaica with a storm surge of up to 13 feet.

Virginia Beach resident Nicole Burch tells TODAY.com that her parents are grounded in Jamaica after deciding to extend their family vacation a week, not knowing a hurricane was on the way.

As the cleanup started on Wednesday in southwest Jamaica, fallen trees and debris blocked roads in Montego Bay.