Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica on Tuesday, prompting the prime minister to declare the country a disaster area, after the storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.

There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said ahead of the storm's landfall.

With skies clearing over Jamaica, Dwayne and Brittany Wolfe are collecting diapers and period products as they await word from loved ones.

At first light on Wednesday, the coastal communities of southwestern Jamaica bore the devastation of being in the direct path of Hurricane Melissa.

Hurricane Melissa is on track to pass through the southeastern islands of the Bahamas, which are sparsely populated compared to the islands in the north of the archipelago. The two islands that are in the storm’s direct path, Crooked Island and Long Island, have a total population of just a few thousand people.

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has made landfall already in Jamaica and Cuba, as one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall.

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.