Hurricane Melissa reaches Bahamas

Hurricane Melissa has reached the Bahamas, bringing destructive winds, torrential rain and a dangerous storm surge to the islands south-east of the US state of Florida, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The devastating storm had earlier swept over Jamaica and Cuba.

With sustained winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour, Melissa is now a Category 1 hurricane. The storm's centre is moving relatively quickly towards the north-east, forecasters said.

The Bahamian government ordered evacuations on six of the country's more than 700 islands. Around 1,500 people were flown out of threatened areas before air traffic was suspended, according to officials. "Whatever happens, we will rebuild," Prime Minister Philip Davis said.

Only about 30 of the Bahamas' islands are inhabited, with tourism serving as the main source of income. Parts of the land and surrounding waters are protected as national parks. The hurricane warning remains in effect for the south-eastern and central Bahamas.

On Tuesday, Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane - one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, according to meteorologists. More than 30 people have died across the region, most of them in Haiti due to flooding, even though the storm did not make landfall there.