The WXII 12 First Warning Weather Team is monitoring Hurricane Melissa is pulling away from the central and southern Bahamas. The winds have picked up since Wednesday and the storm has grown in size.

Hurricane Melissa is currently a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph as it's "starting to accelerate northeastward over the Bahamas," the National Hurricane Center said.

As of 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, Melissa was still a powerful Category 4 storm, with winds of 145 mph. The hurricane is centered about 15 miles east of Montego Bay and about 200 miles southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. It is moving north-northeast at 8 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Last night hurricane Melissa rolled over parts of the Bahamas. It was a category 2. Now it is moving away from that island chain. Enhanced Satellite: Melissa It did cause a lot of destruction over

Hurricane Melissa, weakened to a Category 2 storm, was moving away from the Bahamas into the southwestern Atlantic Ocean early Thursday, after battering the Caribbean over the last few days.

The storm killed about 20 people in Haiti and flooded more than 160 homes. Five bodies were found in Jamaica, and one person died in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. State Department has asked the military to assist with disaster relief efforts.

Murdaugh: Death in the Family unravels the series of events that ended with the deaths of a 19-year-old and the influential lawyer Alex Murdaugh being sentenced guilty of his wife and son's murder.

Hurricane Melissa left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti on Wednesday, and it continued on to pass through the Bahamas as a weakened storm.

Hurricane Melissa, a powerful and slow-moving storm, wreaked havoc on Jamaica and Cuba as it passed over the islands Tuesday and Wednesday. In Santiago de Cuba, Reinaldo Charon was one of the few people who went outside on Wednesday morning after Hurricane Melissa tore through the eastern part of the island.