Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane -- one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin. Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane as it heads toward eastern Cuba, after bringing catastrophic winds, rain and storm surge to Jamaica.

Hurricane Melissa is among the strongest hurricanes to have formed in the Atlantic Ocean since records were kept, ranking as one the most powerful storms in terms of both wind strength and pressure.

Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica with record-tying 185 mph winds Tuesday, was a beast that stood out as extreme even in a record number of monster storms spawned over the last decade in a superheated Atlantic Ocean.

According to the NHC, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, developed in 1971 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist Robert Homer Simpson, is a rating of 1 to 5 based on a hurricane's sustained wind speed and its potential for significant loss of life and damage.

"I can't even sleep. I didn't even sleep last night," said Dor Ivey, who has lived in Miami Gardens for 11 years and whose family remains in Jamaica.

Meteorologist John Morales needed a moment to collect himself while reporting on Hurricane Melissa, the deadly storm making landfall in Jamaica: 'Oh my Jesus Christ.'

Up to 40 inches of rain, 13 feet of storm surge and 160 mph sustained winds will cause “extensive infrastructure damage” that will cut off communities, the National Hurricane Center warned. Melissa has already killed three people in Haiti and Jamaica each and one person in the Dominican Republic.