People across the northern Caribbean were digging out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa on Thursday as deaths from the catastrophic storm climbed.

The rumble of large machinery, whine of chainsaws and chopping of machetes echoed throughout southeast Jamaica as government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach isolated communities that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record.

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The monster cyclone had winds of up to 185 mph when it made land in Jamaica, destroying building and infrastructure and leaving at least nine people dead.

Stunned residents wandered about, some staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings strewn around them.

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