Category 5 Hurricane Melissa sped up early Tuesday making landfall in Jamaica around 1 p.m, tying the record for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight after battering Jamaica as one of the most powerful landfalling storms in Atlantic basin history. The Royal Family issued a statement to the people of Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa, one of the region's strongest storms on record.

Hurricane Melissa struck the western part of Jamaica the hardest, leaving widespread destruction, officials said. Black River Hospital on the southwest side of the island has been devastated and several other hospitals suffered damage, Desmond McKenzie, the minister of Local Government and Community Development, said.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba near the city of Chivirico early Wednesday as a Category 3 storm after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, the U.S.

The storm left widespread destruction and at least dozens of deaths in its path. In Chicago, people are looking for ways to help.

As Hurricane Melissa continues through the Caribbean, members of the Jamaican community in the Greater Boston area are anxiously trying to contact relatives back home.

Compared with other hurricane models used by the NHC, the DeepMind model is “definitely toward the front of the pack if not at the front of the pack”, says Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. “It’s pretty impressive.”