Weather

A person died after reports of someone trapped in a flooded basement in Brooklyn, and a man died after a boiler room flooded in Manhattan, police said.

Complex and difficult humanitarian operations are underway in Jamaica and Cuba, with the U.S. government and nonprofits among those distributing vital aid.

Melissa is making its way to Bermuda as Jamaica confronts the devastation from one of the most potent storms ever recorded.

More than 30 deaths are being attributed to the storm across Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to officials.

The parish of St. Elizabeth, called Jamaica's "breadbasket," was "underwater," a government official said, after Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds.

The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.

Jamaica is bracing for what the National Hurricane Center said would be catastrophic flash flooding and landslides caused by up to 40 inches of rain.

Melissa is forecast to reach Category 5 with landfall by Tuesday, and could be the strongest storm to hit Jamaica on record.

The National Hurricane Center warned of "life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides" throughout Hispaniola.

The storm was blamed for downing a large tree that killed an elderly man in the coastal town of Marigot in southern Haiti.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of starting a small fire on New Year's Day that eventually exploded in a historic Santa Ana windstorm to become the deadly Palisades Fire.