Insurance, bonds and savings will speed recovery from the monster hurricane, but the Caribbean nation will still need international aid.

The center of Hurricane Charlie skirted the southern coast of Jamaica on the night of Aug. 17, 1951, before it made landfall early the next morning as a strong Category 3 storm, bringing destructive winds to the entirety of the island, according to the NHC. The strongest winds at Kingston were measured at 110 mph.

Footage from a U.S. Air Force weather reconnaissance flight that passed through Hurricane Melissa’s eye confirms you probably don’t want to be there. The U.S. Defense Department released the video after flying multiple passes through the Category 5 storm on Monday to collect weather data for the National Hurricane Center.

How do you count the dead when you cannot reach them? This is the agonising question facing Jamaica days after Hurricane Melissa, one of the worst storms in the nation's history, tore the island apart.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in southwest Jamaica this week near the coastal town of Black River, which the government has described as “ground zero.”

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