Melissa underwent extreme rapid intensification, strengthening to a rare Category 5 with winds of 175 mph and stronger gusts, making it the strongest storm on the planet this year. Follow for live updates.

The hurricane was ranked as a Category 5 storm, the highest level of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, when it reached Jamaica.

Hurricane Melissa is among the strongest hurricanes to have formed in the Atlantic Ocean since records were kept, ranking as one the most powerful storms in terms of both wind strength and pressure.

Hurricane Melissa's left a path of devastation on a level 'never seen before,' according to the United Nations.

The storm “totally destroyed” the port of Black River, the prime minister said. At least five people died in Jamaica, and the hurricane killed at least 30 in Haiti. Officials expect the toll to rise.

As Hurricane Melissa moved north of Jamaica on Wednesday, the head of the UN team there said that preliminary damage assessments from the category 5 storm showed a level of devastation “never seen before” on the Caribbean island.

Hurricane Melissa followed what has unfortunately become a pattern for major storms: It formed late in the season, intensified rapidly, then stalled near the coast.

While Bermuda took a glancing blow, that was not the case in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and The Bahamas. Life will be very difficult for many people for quite some time in those countries.

Human-caused climate change is making major hurricanes like Melissa much stronger, faster and ultimately more life-threatening

After striking Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa moved toward Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas – countries also considered highly exposed to physical climate risk. Moody’s noted that it could take weeks or months before total economic and insured loss estimates are finalised.

Now, as a weakened category 2 storm, there have been some impacts felt in the Bahamas, with Melissa tracking toward Bermuda on Thursday. Beyond that, as can be fairly typical, Melissa will weaken so that it will no longer be a hurricane or tropical storm as it moves into the North Atlantic.