Hurricane Melissa regained strength on Tuesday as it moved away from Jamaica and headed toward Cuba, once again becoming a Category 4 storm. According to the US National Hurricane Center, the hurricane picked up speed over the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds reaching around 110 miles per hour, or 175 kilometers per hour.

The storm made landfall in Jamaica as one of the most powerful in the country’s history, battering the island with record-breaking winds of up to 295 kilometers per hour and leaving behind extensive damage. Authorities said Melissa was the strongest hurricane ever to directly strike Jamaica, a nation of nearly 2.8 million people.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the entire island a disaster area as heavy rain, flooding, and landslides continued to threaten residents even after the eye of the storm passed. The Red Cross reported that about 1.5 million people were directly affected by the hurricane’s impact. Citizens were urged to remain indoors while emergency services worked to assess the damage and restore communication lines.

Melissa weakened slightly to a Category 3 as it crossed Jamaica, but regained intensity once it reached open water, strengthening back to Category 4 status. Forecasters warned that “life-threatening storm surges and damaging winds” were expected to hit eastern Cuba later in the day, with landfall predicted in the early hours of Wednesday.

Health authorities in Jamaica also issued a rare warning about displaced wildlife, cautioning residents to watch for crocodiles that may have been pushed into residential areas by rising floodwaters. “People living near rivers, gullies, and swamps should stay alert and avoid flooded zones,” the South East Regional Health Authority advised.

Melissa has already secured its place among the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Comparable storms include Hurricane Allen in 1980, which reached 305 km/h winds and killed over 200 people in Haiti; Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which devastated the Bahamas with 295 km/h winds; and Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which caused widespread destruction in Jamaica and Mexico.

As Melissa moves closer to Cuba, officials there are preparing for significant damage and evacuations, with weather agencies warning that the hurricane, while expected to lose some strength, remains an “extremely dangerous” system.