Tropical Storm Melissa has been pushing through the central Caribbean, with forecasters warning it could soon strengthen and brush past Jamaica as a powerful hurricane while unleashing potentially “catastrophic” flash flooding and landslides in southern Haiti.

The slow-moving and erratic storm was centred on Friday about 150 miles (245km) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 270 miles (430km) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

It had maximum sustained winds of 45mph (75km/h) and was moving north at 3mph (6km/h), according to the United States National Hurricane Center in Miami.

It was expected to drop copious rain on Jamaica and the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the weekend as it strengthens into a major hurricane by the end of the weekend, possibly

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