Melissa is expected to reach Jamaica early Tuesday, breaking records as the most powerful storm ever to hit the island. The most powerful before now was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which recorded winds of 130mph.

"It is more than kind of distressing because you don't know when and you don't know how," said Ewan Simpson, who lives in Jamaica.

Hurricane Hunters were forced to cut short their reconnaissance mission into the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Monday morning, Oct. 27.

Melissa is expected to strengthen from a tropical storm into a major hurricane this weekend, bringing “life-threatening and catastrophic” flash flooding and landslides to the Caribbean.

Melissa, a strong Category 5 hurricane, neared landfall on the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica early Tuesday, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.

Melissa has already killed three people in Haiti and Jamaica each and one person in the Dominican Republic. United Nations staff are preparing to deploy to Cuba and Jamaica this week as the region nervously awaits landfall of Hurricane Melissa.

The Caribbean island braced for record winds and catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Melissa. Also: record numbers of racehorses die in Australia from injuries in the past year; Korean beauty products trend investigated;