NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) - Melissa intensified turning into a Category 3 Hurricane late Saturday only to continue gaining strength with the expectation to bring "life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides" to southern Hispaniola and Jamaica into early next week.

Melissa is 125-miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica and 280-miles west-southwest of Port Au Prince, Haiti with its maximum sustained winds of 115-mph.

It also has hurricane-force-winds that extend outward from the center up to 25-miles and tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 160-miles.

The National Hurricane Center says that "Melissa is moving toward the west near 3-mph as a slow westward motion is expected [Saturday evening] through the end of the weekend. A turn to the north and northeast is forec

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