Hurricane Melissa closed in on Jamaica on Monday after rapidly intensifying into a top-level Category 5 storm, with residents bracing for potentially deadly rains. In Kingston, heavy winds battered trees and some streets were flooded.
Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters expected it to unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage. At that strength, it would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.
Already blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean as it heads toward the island, Melissa is on track to make landfall early Tuesday in Jamaica before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. It is not expected to affect the United States.
Anticipating the hardship in store for his country, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: "I have been
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