At least 30 people, including 10 children, have died and another 10 are missing after a river overflowed in southern Haiti, according to an updated report from authorities — making the Caribbean nation the hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa in terms of fatalities.

Speaking to AFP, Haiti’s Director General of Civil Protection, Emmanuel Pierre, said that search efforts continue in the coastal community of Petit-Goâve. The La Digue River overflowed, sweeping away numerous homes in the seaside town, according to residents. “People were killed, homes were carried away,” said local resident Steve Louissaint.

Hurricane Melissa is the strongest storm to make landfall in the region in 90 years, according to an AFP analysis based on meteorological data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Hurricane Melissa left infrastructure “severely compromised,” say Jamaican officials

The hurricane made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica and later in Cuba, where, according to the Cuban president, it caused “significant damage.” Today, a United Nations official in Jamaica said that the destruction reached “unprecedented levels,” describing Melissa as the most powerful storm in the country’s history.

“From what we know so far, there has been massive, unprecedented destruction of infrastructure, property, roads, and communication and power networks,” said Dennis Zulu, the UN coordinator for several Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, speaking via video link from Kingston.

“People are in shelters across the country, and our preliminary assessments suggest that Jamaica has been devastated in ways we have never seen before,” he added, citing early estimates that around one million people have been affected.

See photos from Cuba: