By Sarah Morland

KINGSTON (Reuters) -Hurricane Melissa slammed into the southern coast of eastern Cuba on Wednesday, hours after causing devastation in neighboring Jamaica as the strongest-ever cyclone on record to hit that Caribbean island nation.

Melissa was last about 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest update.

It had subsided to a Category 3 hurricane since it roared ashore near Jamaica’s southwestern town of New Hope, packing sustained winds of up to 185 mph (295 kph), according to the Miami-based forecaster. That was well above the minimum 157 mph wind speed of a Category 5 storm, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

‘SOME LOSS OF LIFE EXP

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