The UK will provide £2.5m in emergency humanitarian funding to Jamaica, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has announced. UK relief supplies and technical experts have also been deployed to assist with the disaster response and recovery from the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

With peak sustained winds of 180 mph and even higher gusts, Hurricane Melissa is forecast to be the strongest storm ever to strike Jamaica.

Hurricane Melissa barreled into Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with some of the fastest winds and strongest intensities ever recorded. The storm blew through the Caribbean island’s southwestern coast,

Most of Jamaica remains without power, as our correspondent reports floods, mudslides and "palm trees tossed like toothpicks".

There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said.