SANTIAGO DE CUBA - Hurricane Melissa was approaching Bermuda after tearing a path of destruction across the Caribbean that left at least 24 people dead in Haiti, and parts of Jamaica and Cuba in ruins.
Flooding is expected to subside in the Bahamas later on Thursday, although it could persist in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The storm, one of the most powerful ever recorded, was made four times more likely because of human-caused climate change, according to a study by Imperial College London.
It was forecast to pass over Bermuda by late Thursday packing maximum sustained winds near 165km/h, with the government urging residents to take precautionary measures against the still-powerful storm.
Melissa smashed into both Jamaica and Cuba with enormous force, and residents were assessing their losses and the long road to recovery.
Communications and transportation access remains largely down in both nations, and comprehensive assessment of the damage could take days.
In the east of Cuba, which is battling its worst economic crisis in decades, people struggled through inundated streets lined with flooded and collapsed homes.
The storm smashed windows, downed power cables and mobile communications, and tore off roofs and tree branches.
Cuban authorities said about 735,000 people had been evacuated -- mainly in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Guantanamo.
The United States said it was in contact with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said rescue and response teams were en route.
He later included ideological foe Cuba, saying the US is "prepared to offer immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba affected by the Hurricane."