Hurricane Melissa is close to making landfall on Jamaica as the strongest storm to hit the island in the 174 years since records began

Hurricane Melissa has strengthened into a Category 5 storm as it draws closer to Jamaica, where forecasters say it will unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage

Hurricane Melissa is forecast to bring extreme, life-threatening storm surge to Jamaica when it strikes the island as a Category 4 or 5 hurricane on Tuesday.The storm surge will decimate parts of Jamaica's southern coast,

Hurricane Melissa has strengthened into a Category 5 storm and is forecast to bring destructive winds and storm surge and "catastrophic flooding" to Jamaica through the day, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Melissa is among the strongest hurricanes to have formed in the Atlantic Ocean since records were kept, ranking as one the most powerful storms in terms of both wind strength and pressure. The storm that formed last week was an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 hurricane as it bore down on Jamaica on Tuesday,

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Staff at the family-owned Jamaica Jerk Villa on the South Side said they're worried about their family members as Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall on Tuesday.

This is actually the first time I’ll be experiencing this type of hurricane." Category 5 is the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph. Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to directly hit the small Caribbean nation,