Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to bring flash flooding and landslides to the northern Caribbean, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

The center said those impacts could be "life-threatening and catastrophic" for parts of Haiti and Jamaica, especially as Melissa was potentially forecast to intensify further into a Category 5 storm.

The weather agency added that Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.

"Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today," Jamie Rhome, the center's deputy director, said on Sunday. "Be ready to ride this out for several da

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