Hurricane Melissa’s exceptional power, endurance and ability to overcome obstacles stunned meteorologists. Here’s what to know.

Local groups are stepping up to help Jamaica recover from Hurricane Melissa. Here’s how you can join the relief effort.

In Cooper City, Brittany and Dwayne Wolfe have offered up their home as a drop-off site for diapers and other necessities. The couple are the cofounders of The Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank, and many of the organization’s volunteers and supporters grew up in Jamaica or still have family on the island.

Melissa is one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic Basin, killing at least 32 people.

Hurricane Melissa followed what has unfortunately become a pattern for major storms: It formed late in the season, intensified rapidly, then stalled near the coast.

"We’ve tried to make the best of it—we hope everyone is safe. This is so scary for all Jamaica," Adrienne Brynteson told Newsweek.

Parts of the Caribbean began surveying the damage caused by the deadly Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in Jamaica as a powerful Category 5.