Hurricane Melissa was set to pummel Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago.

The storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St. Elizabeth Parish in the south and exiting around St. Ann Parish in the north, forecasters said. Shortly thereafter, Melissa is expected to hit Cuba.

Hours before the storm, the Jamaican government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage.

"There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5," Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. "The question now is the speed of recovery. That's the challenge."

Early Tuesday, Melissa was centred about 180 kilometres west-sou

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