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

Tens of thousands of Jamaicans were in shelters, and more than two-thirds of the island was still without power, according to officials.

A tourist visiting Jamaica described the record-breaking Hurriane Melissa as "a freight train with a jet engine."

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

The UK government has chartered flights to help British nationals leave Jamaica in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. As many as 8,000 Britons are understood to be on the Caribbean Island. The Foreign Office has urged them to register their presence to receive updates on the disaster response.

Across the sea in Haiti, Melissa killed at least 20 people, including ten children. Heavy rains caused a flash flood that swept away their makeshift homes on the banks of the Digue river in Petit-Goâve, on the southern peninsula. The main road into the town of Jacmel, on Haiti’s south coast, was also sheered off by storm surge.

Hurricane Melissa is on track to pass through the southeastern islands of the Bahamas, which are sparsely populated compared to the islands in the north of the archipelago. The two islands that are in the storm’s direct path, Crooked Island and Long Island, have a total population of just a few thousand people.

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