Melissa tore through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful storms in history, slamming Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane earlier this week.

Bermuda is yet again under a hurricane threat this season as Hurricane Melissa is forecast to charge north, bringing dangerous winds and storm surge.

Hurricane Melissa, now a Category 1 storm, was making its closet approach toward Bermuda early Friday after battering the Caribbean over the past few days, forecasters said.

Hurricane Melissa smashed through the northern Caribbean and was seen picking up speed as it churned across open ocean towards Bermuda on Thursday, leaving a trail of high winds and destruction from Jamaica to Cuba and Haiti in its wake.

Melissa, now a Category 2 hurricane, will bring heavy rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England as it heads toward Bermuda and Newfoundland, Canada.

Melissa was a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 105 mph as of 7 a.m. Thursday and a hurricane warning was in effect in Bermuda. Melissa was 605 miles west of Bermuda, moving north-northeast at 21 mph. There is no threat to Louisiana or the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Melissa continues its devastating path across the Atlantic with a dangerous storm surge forecast for Bermuda on Thursday.

Hurricane Melissa was approaching Bermuda Thursday after tearing a path of destruction across the Caribbean that left at least 24 people dead in Haiti, and parts of Jamaica and Cuba in ruins.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Hurricane Melissa is currently pulling away from the Bahamas Category 2 storm, moving northeast at 21 mph. It's located less than 400 miles from the Florida coast and it makes its way towards Bermuda while sustaining winds of 105 mph.

Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and an estimated minimum central pressure of 892 mb, the National Hurricane Center said. It was one of the strongest storms in the Atlantic Basin ever recorded.

As Hurricane Melissa accelerates northeastward over the western Atlantic, it will pass just west of Bermuda and could pass over the southeastern part of Newfoundland with torrential rain, high winds and heavy seas.