Hurricane Melissa on Monday intensified into a Category 5 storm, the most powerful of hurricanes, while continuing to drop torrents of “catastrophic” rain across the Caribbean, the

Historic, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides are expected in portions of Jamaica, southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the weekend, the NHC said. Peak storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above normal tide levels when the storm makes landfall, accompanied by large and powerfully destructive waves.

People are evacuated to higher ground as US meteorologists warn of "catastrophic" conditions from the category five storm.

U.S. Air Force "Hurricane Hunters" data indicated that maximum sustained winds are nearing 175 mph, with higher gusts, the NHC said. Hurricane force winds are extending up to 30 miles from the storm's center, the NHC added.

According to the National Hurricane Center's 5 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 115 miles west-southwest of Kingston Jamaica and 290 miles southwest of Guantanamo Cuba. With maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, the hurricane is moving to the north-northeast at 5 mph.

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.

"It is more than kind of distressing because you don't know when and you don't know how," said Ewan Simpson, who lives in Jamaica.

"Catastrophic winds in the eyewall have the potential to cause total structural failure especially in higher elevation areas tonight and early Tuesday."