Hurricane Melissa was churning near Jamaica early Monday morning, hours after it rapidly intensified into a powerful Category 5 storm in the Caribbean.

The hurricane is expected to move over or near Jamaica this week as early as Monday evening, before moving toward Cuba and the Bahamas. It is forecast to bring as much as 30 inches of rain to parts of Jamaica, and even more in some areas, over the next few days.

Widespread power outages, disruption of communications and impassable roads are likely in Jamaica. Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, said on Sunday that the combination of a slow moving system and more than three feet of rainfall "is going to create a catastrophic event" for the country.

Here's what to know so far:

-- A tropical storm warnin

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