The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.

Officials reported collapsed houses, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off. Cuba is experiencing significant flooding, with 735,000 people in shelters. Melissa, a Category 2 storm, is moving northeast and is expected to affect the Bahamas and Bermuda next.

Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a Category 5 storm early Monday, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to bring catastrophic flooding to the northern Caribbean.

Hurricane Melissa is grinding across eastern Cuba as a Category 3 storm after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Hurricane Melissa left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, where roofless homes, toppled utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape Wednesday.

Hurricane Melissa barreled toward eastern Cuba, where it was expected to make landfall as a major storm early Wednesday after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Authorities in Cuba had evacuated more than 700,

People across the northern Caribbean are digging out from the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa as deaths from the storm climbed.

Jamaica’s peak tourism season is one month away, and officials in the hurricane-ravaged nation are rushing to rebuild from the catastrophic Category 5 storm that shredded the island’s western region