Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to rapidly intensify over the weekend into a Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The slow-moving storm is forecast to bring "life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides to southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through the weekend.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica, maintaining its Category 5 intensity with devastating winds, flooding rains and storm surge spreading across the Caribbean.

Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane around 1 p.m. ET yesterday as the strongest hurricane in the island's history. Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a disaster area, with St. Elizabeth Parish reported to be "underwater."

Hurricane Melissa was set to pummel Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, its strongest on record. It could be the island's "storm of the century," world forecasters say.

Pia Chevallier, from Cambridge, is on holiday in Jamaica and has been sheltering with her son at a resort 40 minutes away from Montego Bay, and she has been describing the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. "We have just been allowed to get some breakfast but the damage is absolutely horrendous," Chevallier tells BBC News.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, the National Hurricane Center issued an advisory stating that Tropical Storm Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 155 miles southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 235 miles southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. The system, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, is moving west-northwest at 1 mph.

Melissa is currently the only active tropical system in the Atlantic basin. As of Friday night, the storm remains nearly stationary, drifting north at just 2 mph. Maximum sustained winds are around 65 mph—just below the 75 mph threshold needed to reach Category 1 hurricane status.

Melissa is now pushing towards the southern Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands as a category 2 hurricane. As a result, these islands will experience heavy rainfall, life threatening storm surge, strong rip currents and damaging wind gust. Hurricane/tropical storm warnings are also in effect for these islands as this storm approaches.