Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight after battering Jamaica as one of the most powerful landfalling storms in Atlantic basin history.

The storm will hit Bermuda on Thursday afternoon or evening, after Jamaica faced the devastation from one of the most powerful storms ever recorded.

Hurricane Melissa brought devastation and death to the Caribbean as it tore through the region as one of the most powerful storms on earth in more than 150 years.

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

Follow live updates on Hurricane Melissa as the death toll reaches 38 people. Recovery efforts are underway in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

After tearing through the Caribbean, leaving destruction, flooding and more than 50 deaths so far, Hurricane Melissa is heading into the Atlantic.

At least 19 people died as a result from Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, the country's information minister told Reuters, bringing the total confirmed death toll from the storm to at least 44.

Bermuda is yet again under a hurricane threat this season as Hurricane Melissa is forecast to charge north, bringing dangerous winds and storm surge.

After savaging Jamaica as one of the most powerful hurricanes on record, swamping Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas and skirting Bermuda, Hurricane Melissa is rapidly speeding out into the Atlantic and is expected to drop down into an extratropical cyclone later today, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.