Hurricane Melissa was cutting a deadly path in the Caribbean on Saturday night, with rapid intensification expected over the weekend as it took a worryingly slow course toward Jamaica and the island of Hispaniola, forecasters said.

As a Category 1 storm packing winds of 100 miles (155 kilometers) per hour, Melissa was already blamed for three deaths in Haiti earlier in the week, as its outer bands brought heavy rains and landslides to the impoverished nation.

In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a 79-year-old man was found dead after being swept away in a stream, local officials said Saturday. A 13-year-old boy was missing.

Melissa was expected to set off "life-threatening and catastrophic" flooding and landslides in Jamaica, as well as in souther

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