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

The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.

With wind speeds of up to 175mph (282km/h), Hurricane Melissa is a category five storm - the maximum strength. It is intensifying and expected to make landfall on the Caribbean island early on Tuesday. It has been blamed for four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in addition to the lives lost in Jamaica.

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.

Hurricane Melissa is edging towards Jamaica and set to make landfall as a historic Category 5 storm, with winds of over 160 mph. Jamaica is bracing for what the National Hurricane Center said would be catastrophic flash flooding and landslides caused by up to 40 inches of rain in some places. The storm is due to make landfall early Tuesday.

Melissa is expected to reach Jamaica early Tuesday, breaking records as the most powerful storm ever to hit the island. The most powerful before now was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which recorded winds of 130mph.

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.