Hurricane Melissa, an intense Category 5 storm, threatened to bring catastrophic winds, heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides as it tracked through the northern Caribbean and made landfall in southwestern Jamaica Tuesday. Melissa was then forecast to cross Cuba and the Bahamas through Wednesday.

Here is what to know about the storm:

A record storm for Jamaica

Melissa was a Category 5 hurricane, the highest level, when it made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica. It was the strongest to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

It is the fifth most intense Atlantic basin hurricane on record by pressure and the strongest to make landfall since Hurricane Dorian in 2019, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry. It is “a worst-case scenario unfolding for Jamaica,” he said.

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