Hurricane Melissa— one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded—is now off Cuba’s eastern coast, after leaving a trail of destruction across the large island and its much smaller neighbor, Jamaica.

Unusually warm ocean temperatures fueled one of the worst hurricanes on record. New research finds climate change increased the storm’s likelihood.

The hurricane that tore through the Caribbean this week broke records, rapidly intensifying and surprising some meteorologists.

As Jamaica prepares for Tropical Storm Melissa, it's feared this 'catastrophic' storm could well be worse than tragic Storm Gilbert, which devastated the island country back in 1988

This late-season surprise behemoth went beyond 'extreme' rapid intensification and now ties Katrina and Andrew as the 10th strongest hurricane ever recorded.

Founded in Santa Barbara in 1948 by Holocaust refugee William Zimdin, Direct Relief began as a small, personal effort to send supplies to war-torn Europe, Morain explained. “According to our history, his butler and his partner started sending relief packages from their pantry in Montecito.”

After hitting Jamaica as a Category 5, Hurricane Melissa slammed Cuba on Wednesday and is forecast to threaten the Bahamas and Bermuda.