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

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

Four people are confirmed dead in Jamaica while at least 20 others have died in Haiti in flooding as a result of Hurricane Melissa The hurricane made landfall on Tuesday as a category five storm in Jamaica,

CBS News Miami has been in touch with families living through the aftermath, including Marvin Edwards, who rode out the hurricane in Montego Bay.

NWS meteorologists at the Anchorage, Alaska, office issued a hurricane-force wind warning in the early morning hours on Wednesday. The office warned that winds could gust to 65 knots (74 mph), equivalent to a low-end Category 1 hurricane. The strong winds would cause 23-foot seas on Wednesday.

Hurricane Melissa is so severe that even hurricane tracking weather planes have been forced to avoid the storm.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Melissa has begun affecting the southeastern Bahamas SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba — Melissa began affecting the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.