Hello, welcome to the programme.
This is NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
I'm Paul Henley.
We're coming to you live from London.
Hurricane Melissa has hit Southern Cuba after causing widespread damage to Jamaica,
which authorities have designated a disaster area.
The storm has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, but still has winds of over 120 miles an hour.
In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St Elizabeth was left underwater,
according to officials, with more than 500,000 residents without power.
Widespread damage is reported to hospitals, homes, businesses and roads.
Matthew Samuda is Jamaica's minister for water, environment and climate change.
Yesterday we knew that the westerns, from the southwest and northwest,
tips would have particular levels of damage.
What we are seeing this morning is that it has also extended into Central Jamaica,
because much of the hurricane force winds did not reach till sunrise set, so 7, 8 o'clock.
We started feeling some of those impacts.
It will be a few more hours before we have a full picture,
and from there we'll start to get a full understanding of the devastation.
Nick Davis is our correspondent in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.
He summarised the damage caused overnight.