Hurricane Melissa has been upgraded to a major Category 4 hurricane, gathering strength in the Caribbean and threatening Jamaica and Haiti with catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding.

The hurricane “rapidly” intensified over the weekend before leveling off, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Sunday, warning that it could still develop into a Category 5 storm.

Hurricane Melissa was sustaining winds near 140 mph on Sunday, and the storm is expected to keep its strength and be a “powerful major hurricane” as it makes landfall in Jamaica on Monday night, the NHC said in a bulletin. The NHC urged people in Jamaica to “seek shelter now.”

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