Hurricane Melissa is packing sustained winds of up to 175 m/h (282 km/h) as the slow-moving Category 5 storm barrels towards Jamaica, in what could be the largest on record for the Caribbean island. As of Monday evening local time, Melissa was a "catastrophic" storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The NHC expects Melissa to move over Jamaica late Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday, cross eastern Cuba the following night and move over the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos by Wednesday.

Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist for the US ABC network in Miami, said the forecast for Jamaica is "as dire as it gets".

“Preparations to protect life and property across the island should be rushed to completion.

“Melissa th

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