(NEW YORK) -- Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane -- one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.
After tearing across Jamaica on Tuesday, Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane as it pounds Cuba on Wednesday morning.
Latest forecast: Melissa to pass Cuba, Bahamas on Wednesday
As of 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Hurricane Melissa was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 115 mph moving northeast across Cuba.
Melissa -- the strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica -- made landfall on Cuba early on Wednesday near the city of Chivirico in the southeastern province of Santiago de Cuba.
Melissa is forecast to move off the northern coast of Cuba on Wednesday morning as it heads towards the Bahamas. It is expected to pass through the Bahamas as a Category 2 storm in the afternoon. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the southeastern and central Bahamas.
Rain totals could reach 25 inches for higher elevations in Cuba and 5 to 10 inches of rain is expected across the southeastern Bahamas.
Storm surge is still affecting the islands. Cuba is experiencing a surge of up to 12 feet along the southeast coast, with 5 to 8 feet of surge possible in the southeastern Bahamas through Wednesday.
As Melissa moves into the Atlantic Ocean, it is expected to pass close to Bermuda late on Thursday. The archipelago is under a Hurricane Watch.
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