(MENAFN) Tropical storm conditions continued to lash Jamaica late Monday as Hurricane Melissa barreled toward the island, packing maximum sustained winds of 175 miles (281 kilometers) per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

At 8 p.m. ET, the Category 5 hurricane’s center sat roughly 155 miles (249 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Kingston, moving northwest at a slow 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) per hour. The NHC forecasted a shift north overnight, followed by a turn to the northeast on Tuesday.

The storm’s eye is expected to pass near or over Jamaica early Tuesday, bringing “life-threatening winds and heavy rain.”

Preparations have already taken a deadly toll: at least three people in Jamaica reportedly died as residents braced for Hurricane Melissa. U.S. meteorologists have warned of “catastrophic and life-threatening” conditions.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has ordered evacuations in the island’s most vulnerable areas, urging citizens to “prepare and stay indoors.”

“I urge every Jamaican to prepare, stay indoors during the storm, and comply with evacuation orders...We will weather this storm and rebuild stronger,” he wrote on X.

The hurricane has also resulted in four fatalities across Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where heavy rains triggered widespread flooding and landslides.

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