KINGSTON — Hurricane Melissa churned north-east toward Cuba’s second-largest city on Tuesday as a powerful Category 4 storm, hours after making landfall in nearby Jamaica as the strongest-ever storm to hit the Caribbean island nation.

Melissa struck land near Jamaica’s southwestern town of New Hope, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory, well above the minimum strength of a Category 5 storm, the most powerful level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth was left “underwater,” an official said, and over half a million residents were without power.

By 2100 GMT, Melissa had weakened to 145 mph (233 kph), the NHC said, as it moved past the mountainous island, where highland comm

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