Hurricane Melissa slammed into Cuba as a Category 3 storm early this morning after wreaking havoc across Jamaica. The storm—the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane on record—is on track to make landfall in the Bahamas by the afternoon.

Melissa weakened to a Category 2 storm after making landfall in the province of Santiago de Cuba around 3 a.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center . Despite the intensity downgrade, the storm will continue to cause severe flooding, life-threatening storm surge, and damaging hurricane-force winds across Cuba through Wednesday morning, the NHC states.

The center of the hurricane has reemerged off the northern coast of eastern Cuba and will track into the eastern Bahamas later today. Cuba’s eastern terrain took a toll on Melissa, and the ey

See Full Page