After weakening to a Category 1 hurricane after its passage across the rugged terrain of eastern Cuba, by Wednesday afternoon Melissa was recovering over the waters around the speckled islands of the southeastern Bahamas.

NOAA trackers expect Hurricane Melissa to make catastrophic landfall in Jamaica Tuesday. How to watch live cam video updates, track spaghetti models and more.

Hurricane Melissa has strengthened into a Category 5 storm and is forecast to bring destructive winds and storm surge and "catastrophic flooding" to Jamaica through the day, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Classified as a Category 4 storm, Melissa is sweeping northeast, accelerating as it heads toward a second landfall in southeastern Cuba after leaving a swath of destruction in its wake.​​

Melissa is now a Category 1 moving through the Bahamas after the storm made a historic landfall in Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.

Melissa remains a beast of a hurricane as it creeps towards Jamaica. It’s very eerie to see it loop via the satellite imagery because it’s like it’s ‘looming’ or studying its prey before it attacks. Sadly, this natural ‘attack’ is expected Tuesday.

The storm killed about 20 people in Haiti and flooded more than 160 homes. Five bodies were found in Jamaica, and one person died in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. State Department has asked the military to assist with disaster relief efforts.

Hurricane Melissa is moving extremely slowly through the Caribbean Sea, where it is expected to have catastrophic impacts on Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba in the coming days. You can track it all with the maps below, including forecasts from the National Hurricane Center. And if you're seeking a more in-depth look at Melissa, click here.

Countries promise aid to Jamaica to help with recovery as prime minister declares 'disaster area' following the category five hurricane.