As of 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, Melissa was still a powerful Category 4 storm, with winds of 145 mph. The hurricane is centered about 15 miles east of Montego Bay and about 200 miles southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. It is moving north-northeast at 8 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm, producing maximum sustained wind speeds of 145 mph. If it maintains its strength, it could become the strongest hurricane to make landfall over the island since the National Hurricane Center started keeping records.

Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, threatening the northern Caribbean with massive rainfall and life-threatening flooding

The scale of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa is emerging, with dozens of people known to have died in Haiti and four deaths reported in Jamaica - and the storm is now approaching the Bahamas.

Hurricane Melissa is on track to pass through the southeastern islands of the Bahamas, which are sparsely populated compared to the islands in the north of the archipelago. The two islands that are in the storm’s direct path, Crooked Island and Long Island, have a total population of just a few thousand people.

Hurricane Melissa barreled into Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm with some of the fastest winds and strongest intensities ever recorded. The storm blew through the Caribbean island’s southwestern coast,