The Navy has eight warships in the region — three destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, a cruiser and a smaller littoral combat ship that's designed for coastal waters.

The storm was forecast to dump up to 25 inches of rain over Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica as it continues to strengthen this weekend.

The system was located over the central tropical Atlantic as of 1 p.m. Thursday, and forecasters said they expect it to continue moving west at 15 to 20 mph over the next several days. It could develop more once it reaches the warm waters of the Caribbean, forecasters said.

Margaritaville at Sea Islander made a last-minute itinerary change to steer clear of Tropical Storm Melissa, which is in the Caribbean Sea.

Hurricane Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm.

Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean are staring down what could become a catastrophic, days-long assault of extreme rainfall and damaging winds with a strengthening Tropical Storm Melissa expected to become a major hurricane over some of the hottest ocean water on the planet.

Tropical Storm Melissa is moving at a snail's pace but will intensify rapidly over the weekend as it feeds off near-record-warm water temperatures in the Caribbean Sea, forecasters say.