Hurricane Melissa on Sunday intensified into a Category 4 storm dropping torrents of “catastrophic” rain across the Caribbean with the National Hurricane Center now forecasting it to become a Category 5 hurricane before it makes landfall on Jamaica this week.

As of the NHC’s 8 a.m. advisory, Melissa had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph located about 120 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica and 280 miles south-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba moving west at 5 mph.

“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”

The system could drop 15-30 more inches by Wednesday with some areas getting as much as 40 inches on both Jamaica and southern Hispaniola.

Hurricane Melissa forecast path as of 8

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