Forecasters say Melissa is moving toward the north-northeast at around 21 mph and is expected to continue accelerating northeastward.

The storm was making its way to the Bahamas and Bermuda on Thursday morning as Jamaica confronted the devastation from one of the most potent storms ever recorded anywhere.

The National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. Thursday update reported that Category 2 Hurricane Melissa is in the Atlantic Ocean, 160 miles west-northwest of Bermuda. The hurricane is moving northeast at 38 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph.

South Florida was spared a direct blow from Hurricane Melissa, but the massive storm still hit home for the millions of residents there who have deep roots in the Caribbean. Now, the Caribbean diaspora from Miami to New York City is turning its heartbreak into action: filling warehouses with emergency supplies to send to

Samaritan's Purse sent its first relief airlift to Jamaica on Thursday in the aftermath of the disastrous Hurricane Melissa, which hit Jamaica and other Caribbean nations this week. (Courtesy of Samar

Melissa, now a Category 2 hurricane, will bring heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England as it heads toward Bermuda and Newfoundland, Canada.

One viral video shows what appears to be four sharks swimming in a Jamaican hotel’s pool as floodwaters allegedly brought on by Hurricane Melissa swamp the area. Another purportedly depicts Jamaica’s Kingston airport completely ravaged by the storm.

The news “underscores the profound ecological toll that Hurricane Melissa will have on Jamaica’s biodiversity,” said one expert on the island.