Hurricane Melissa is close to making landfall on Jamaica as the strongest storm to hit the island in the 174 years since records began.

Melissa is a Category 5 storm with sustained wind speeds of 175 miles per hour. It is expected to move diagonally across the island, entering near St. Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St. Ann parish in the north.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet is expected across southern Jamaica. Officials said there was no more preparation they could do.

The storm has already been blamed for at least seven deaths in the Caribbean.

In Cuba , preparations and mandatory evacuations started on Monday and continued on Tuesday.

Cuban officials said Monday that they were evacuating more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island’s second-largest city.

AP video by Matias Delacroix