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

In Cooper City, Brittany and Dwayne Wolfe have offered up their home as a drop-off site for diapers and other necessities. The couple are the cofounders of The Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank, and many of the organization’s volunteers and supporters grew up in Jamaica or still have family on the island.

Hurricane Melissa’s catastrophic strike on Jamaica has sparked renewed debate over whether the U.S. should extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to affected Caribbean nationals already here.

For days now, we've been following the devastating impacts as Hurricane Melissa slowly stretched across the Caribbean. The recovery process in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica will be long and difficult. The hard truth is that many will never be able to rebuild or recover what they have lost.

“Melissa is moving unusually slow – reportedly at 2 to 5 miles per hour – which means that it became particularly intense before striking Jamaica’s southwest coast. Similarly, it spent longer over Jamaica, thus exposing everything in its track to prolonged impacts,” Prof Simon told The Independent.

Cuba worked on Friday to rescue residents still stranded by unprecedented floodwaters in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, including a flooded river that had cut off one of the country's most important east-west thoroughfares.