With peak sustained winds of 185 mph and even higher gusts, Hurricane Melissa is forecast to be the strongest storm ever to strike Jamaica.

Melissa intensified overnight into one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin, with sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 892 mb, according to the National Center (NHC).

Hurricane Melissa reached Category 5 status near Jamaica but won't impact the Ohio Valley. Get live updates and tracking information.

According to the National Hurricane Center's 11 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 40 miles southeast of Negril Jamaica and 235 miles southwest of Guantanamo Cuba. With maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, the hurricane is moving to the north-northeast at 9 mph.

Hurricane Melissa is set to pummel Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The eyewall’s destructive winds may cause total structural failure, particularly in higher elevations, leading to widespread infrastructural damage, prolonged power and communication outages, and isolated communities.