Respire Haiti’s local team is surveying flooded communities, identifying areas hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa, and coordinating relief efforts for families

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

At least 20 people are dead in Haiti and another dozen are missing after a river in the town of Petit-Goâve, southwest of Port-au-Prince, flooded as Hurricane Melissa bombarded the country with heavy rain as it battered nearby Jamaica as a powerful Category 5 storm.

A range of international organizations have mobilized millions in funding, emergency supplies, medical care and food after Hurricane Melissa struck, with plans to manage the resources independently rather than through the Haitian government.

Hurricane Melissa is expected to become a Category 5 hurricane on its way to landfall in Jamaica, per the National Hurricane Center Sunday, Oct. 26.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.

Tropical Storm Melissa is showing signs of becoming a bit more organized. current data indicate that the storm's structure is still not quite aligned, and its overall circulation is poorly defined

The Cap-Haïtien region boasts many world-renowned historic sites. Yet foreign visitors have become scarce in what is known as the country's 'tourism capital,' as Haiti faces a deep political and security crisis.