The Brief

Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for residents on the island.

Jamaica officials closed airports until the hurricane passed through the area.

Hurricane Melissa is hours away from its expected landfall in Jamaica late Tuesday morning or early Tuesday afternoon, but the storm has already been deadly.

The hurricane is set to hit Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago, according to the Associated Press.

Here are the latest updates on Hurricane Melissa:

Melissa grows even stronger and now has sustained winds of 185 mph

11 a.m. ET: Hurricane Melissa is continuing to intensify as the eye storm approaches the southwestern coast of

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