Flooding from Hurricane Melissa killed 25 people in Haiti while the storm still churned across Cuba on Wednesday after leaving Jamaica with widespread damage and power outages, officials say.

Jean Bertrand Subrème, mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goâve, told The Associated Press that 25 people died after a La Digue river burst its banks and flooded nearby homes.

Dozens of homes collapsed and people were still trapped under rubble as of Wednesday morning, he said.

"I am overwhelmed by the situation," he said as he pleaded with the government to help rescue victims.

Only one official from Haiti's Civil Protection Agency was in the area, with residents struggling to evacuate amid heavy floodwaters unleashed by Hurricane Melissa in recent days.

In Jamaica, more than

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