Category 5 Hurricane Melissa sped up early Tuesday making landfall in Jamaica around 1 p.m, tying the record for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic.

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

Hurricane Melissa struck the western part of Jamaica the hardest, leaving widespread destruction, officials said. Black River Hospital on the southwest side of the island has been devastated and several other hospitals suffered damage, Desmond McKenzie, the minister of Local Government and Community Development, said.

NBC News' George Solis got a firsthand look at the damage after Hurricane Melissa devastated Jamaica — bringing down buildings, trees, power lines and roadways.

Several Marylanders who traveled to Jamaica are trying to figure out their next moves after Hurricane Melissa ravaged the islands with category 5-force winds.

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.

Disaster relief from the U.S. to Jamaica is delayed due to the government shutdown, but several private organizations are mobilizing to send relief after Hurricane Melissa. NBC News’ Jesse Kirsch spoke to one group packing up soup,

The UK will provide £2.5m in emergency humanitarian funding to Jamaica, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has announced. UK relief supplies and technical experts have also been deployed to assist with the disaster response and recovery from the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.