Hurricane Melissa hits Cuba hours after devastating Jam aica

Hurricane Melissa slammed into the southern coast of eastern Cuba on Wednesday, hours after causing devastation in neighboring Jamaica as the strongest-ever cyclone on record to hit that Caribbean island nation.



Melissa was last about 95 km west-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 195 kph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest update.



It had subsided to a Category 3 hurricane since it roared ashore near Jamaica's southwestern town of New Hope, packing sustained winds of up to 295 kph), according to the Miami-based forecaster.



That was well above the minimum 241 kmph wind speed of a Category 5 storm, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.



In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth was left "underwater," and, with more than 500,000 residents without power.