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Here are some images showing the hurricane\u2019s forecast path as it heads towards Jamaica<\/a> from the south and the likelihood of it packing hurricane-force winds across a five-day forecast.<\/p>\n Melissa is currently reported as being centred about 150 miles (240km) south-west of Kingston and about 330 miles (530km) south-west of Guant\u00e1namo, Cuba<\/a>.<\/p>\n The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280km\/h) and was moving north-northeast at 2mph (4km\/h), according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.<\/p>\n Map<\/a>Map<\/p>\n Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the country\u2019s western end faced the worst destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe there is any infrastructure within this region that could withstand a category 5 storm, so there could be significant dislocation,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n Map<\/a>MapShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.56 EDT<\/p>\n Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages have been reported in Jamaica<\/a> ahead of Hurricane Melissa, with officials warning that the cleanup and damage assessment will be slow.<\/p>\n Forecasters said the storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north.<\/p>\n Hours before the storm, the government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage, the Associated Press is reporting<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a category 5,\u201d said the prime minister, Andrew Holness.<\/p>\n The question now is the speed of recovery. That\u2019s the challenge.<\/p>\n A fallen tree on a street in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches. Photograph: Octavio Jones\/ReutersA fence at Hellshire Fishing Beach in Portmore, Jamaica, damaged by the storm\u2019s preliminary winds. Photograph: Rudolph Brown\/EPA<\/p>\n Amid the expectation of a life-threatening storm surge of up to four metres (13 feet) across southern Jamaica, officials are concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coastline.<\/p>\n Health minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, \u201cand [we] hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.41 EDT<\/p>\n The US National Hurricane Centre has again warned<\/a> on social media that Melissa is \u201cexpected to bring catastrophic and life-threatening winds, flooding and storm surge\u201d to Jamaica on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The director of the centre in Miami, Dr Michael Brennan, said earlier in a live update<\/a> on Monday that with the storm centre forecast to reach Jamaica\u2019s coast \u201csometime early Tuesday\u201d, destructive winds were expected in Melissa\u2019s eyewall as it made landfall and moved across the island.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n So we could have complete damage, destruction of shelters, homes and buildings in the path of that eyewall, not just along the coast but in areas of high terrain across the central part of the island as the centre of Melissa moves across the island during the day on Tuesday …<\/p>\n Everyone in Jamaica needs to be in their safe place now to ride out the storm all the way through tomorrow.<\/p>\n We\u2019re also very concerned about the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation near and to the right of where the centre crosses the south coast early tomorrow, with the potential for nine to 13 feet [2.7 to 4 metres] of inundation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.27 EDT<\/p>\n Opening summary<\/p>\n Welcome to our live coverage of Hurricane Melissa as it moves closer to making landfall in Jamaica and threatens catastrophic destruction<\/a> from flooding, winds and landslides. Here\u2019s the latest as it as just passed 12 midnight in Kingston.<\/p>\n Jamaican officials called on the public to get to higher ground and shelters on Monday evening ahead of the category 5 hurricane, with the prime minister warning it could be a massively destructive storm \u2013 the island\u2019s most violent on record.<\/p>\n The storm was on track to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. Melissa has been blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean<\/a> as it moved towards Jamaica.<\/p>\n The US National Hurricane Centre said Melissa was \u201cpotentially catastrophic\u201d and that \u201cmultiple life-threatening hazards\u201d were in play in Jamaica. Among them was up to 13 feet (four metres) of storm surge inundation on parts of the south coast.<\/p>\n Andrew Holness, the Jamaican prime minister, said as the storm neared: \u201cI have been on my knees in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n In other key developments:<\/p>\n Melissa was centred about 155 miles (245km) south-west of Kingston on Monday night local time. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175mph (280km\/h) and was moving north-west at 2mph (4km\/h), the US National Hurricane Centre said.<\/p>\n At category 5 \u2013 the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale \u2013 Melissa would be the strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica directly.<\/p>\n Parts of eastern Jamaica could see up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, the centre said, citing the likelihood of \u201ccatastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides\u201d.<\/p>\n Mandatory evacuations were ordered in flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter, although some people insisted on staying. Jamaican government officials said they were worried that fewer than 1,000 people were in the more than 130 shelters open across the island.<\/p>\n