Category 5 Hurricane Melissa sped up early Tuesday making landfall in Jamaica around 1 p.m, tying the record for the strongest landfall in the Atlantic.

The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.

The storm is expected to bring destructive winds and life-threatening and catastrophic flooding and landslides to Jamaica, forecasters say.

According to the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 55 miles south-southeast of Negril Jamaica and 265 miles southwest of Guantanamo Cuba. With maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, the hurricane is moving to the north-northeast at 7 mph.

The U.S. Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the "Hurricane Hunters," encountered heavier than normal turbulence while flying into the eye of Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday morning and were forced to turn back.

According to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Melissa, now a Category 2 storm, is moving across eastern Cuba, bringing damaging winds, flash flooding and storm surge to the island after pummeling Jamaica. Melissa was located about 45 miles northwest of Guantanamo, Cuba.

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has made landfall already in Jamaica and Cuba, as one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall.