(WKYT) - Vacationers from Kentucky are being forced to evacuate Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa moves toward the island.

Hurricane Melissa intensified to a category 5 storm Monday morning. It could be the strongest storm to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.

Many vacationers in the storm’s path are looking to escape. Kentucky travel advisor Julie Pritchett was vacationing in the Dominican Republic when Hurricane Melissa gained strength in the Caribbean.

“All of a sudden it was just like everything blowing everywhere and then the rain started and it was just buckets of rain. It’s so hard to explain it was so much rain - even living in Kentucky I have never seen this amount of rain,” Pritchett said.

Storm damages Dominican Republic

Pritchett and her family flew back home sa

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