Hurricane Melissa, an intense Category 5 storm, threatened to bring catastrophic winds, heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides as it tracked through the northern Caribbean and neared landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday. Melissa was then forecast to cross Cuba and the Bahamas through Wednesday.

Hurricane Melissa is set to pummel Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

Hurricane Melissa is set to bring catastrophic winds, flooding and storm surge to Jamaica, forecasters have warned.

Cuba is bracing for Hurricane Melissa as it heads towards Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, threatening catastrophic damage at a time the government is already failing to provide the most basic services and thousands are sick because of the rise of mosquito-transmitted diseases and other illnesses linked to poor sanitary conditions.

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.