At 2 a.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center issued an advisory stating that Category 3 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 125 miles south-southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 295 miles west-southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. With maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, the hurricane is moving west-southwest at 5 mph.

U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica on Saturday as Tropical Storm Melissa reached hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.

Melissa has strengthened into a Category 3 storm according to the National Hurricane Center. Rapid intensification is expected to continue over the next few days. The National Hurricane Center expects Melissa to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by the end of the weekend.

Tropical Storm Melissa continues to spin in the central Caribbean Sea, where the island nation of Jamaica lies almost directly in the path of the burgeoning hurricane. While Hispaniola and Cuba are also in the line of fire,