Hurricane Melissa, a slow-moving Category 5 storm with sustained winds reaching 175 mph (282 kph), was tracking toward Jamaica on Monday, threatening what could become the strongest hurricane the island has ever recorded.

As of 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), Melissa was a “catastrophic” storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Centre.

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.

The storm’s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, NHC forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and as much

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