Residents continued to evacuate from their homes in Cuba as Hurricane Melissa battered its way through the Caribbean and was expected to arrive on the island's shores.

Heavy floodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Melissa pummeled the Caribbean island as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

The hurricane was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba early Wednesday.

Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain was forecast in areas, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

Evacuations in Cuba, which were mandatory, started in the eastern part of the country two days ago, with buses, trucks, and even horse carts being used to transport people from their homes to shelters or higher ground.

Edubige Figueroa in Santiago de Cuba on Tuesday was once again turning her modest home located up in the hills into a makeshift shelter for residents.

A hurricane alert is in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Las Tunas and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Camaguey.

Streets were submerged in Kingston, Jamaica, after Melissa made landfall while communities in the southwest of Haiti continued to struggle with flooding.

In Les Cayes in the south of the island, residents walk through flooded streets for the past two days, heightening concerns about waterborne illnesses.

AP video shot by: Ariel Fernández, Matias Delacroix and Jordany Junior Verdieu