Jamaica's prime minister implored residents to evacuate as Hurricane Melissa began lashing the island with violent gusts on Monday (October 27) as it approached landfall. The ferocious Category 5 storm is set to pummel Jamaica on Tuesday, with forecasters warning that it would be the strongest to hit the island since records began 174 years ago. Mandatory evacuation orders were put in place for seven areas in Jamaica across Kingston, Clarendon, St Catherine, and St Andrew — but despite PM Andrew Holness' pleas for people to seek shelter, some Jamaicans said they were staying put. In Port Royal, Roy Brown told Agence France-Presse: "I am not moving. I don’t believe I can run from death,” citing poor experiences with conditions of government shelters as his reason for not evacuating.

The rare highest-strength storm is set to hit Jamaica by Tuesday, having already caused two deaths in Haiti.

Residents in Jamaica prepared for Hurricane Melissa as it strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday (26 October). Melissa, the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane…

Melissa's center was forecast to move over Jamaica on Tuesday

We would like to hear from people about the impact Hurricane Melissa is having in their area

The catastrophic and record-breaking storm is barreling toward Jamaica at speed