Hurricane Melissa has weakened slightly to a still destructive Category 4 hurricane after making landfall in Jamaica as the strongest-ever storm to directly hit the Caribbean nation of 2.8 million people.

Melissa made landfall near the town of New Hope, 62 km south of Montego Bay, packing maximum sustained winds of 295 km/h, the US National Hurricane Centre said in an advisory.

Some hours later, it had weakened to 241 km/h, the Centre said.

The slow-moving storm is forecast to remain a powerful hurricane as it crosses the mountainous island -whose highland communities are vulnerable to landslides and flooding -and heads towards Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second-largest city.

The Miami-based hurricane centre warned that "total structural failure" was likely in Melissa's path.

"The island

See Full Page