The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the Category 4 was packing maximum winds of about 145 miles per hour – and would likely intensify into a top-level Category 5 storm later Sunday. The storm is moving at a worryingly slow pace – just five miles an hour.

Jamaica prepares for Melissa's arrival as forecasts predict over 72 hours of hurricane conditions and heavy rainfall.

The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.