Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica's strongest-ever storm, weakens to Category 4

Melissa is the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988, according to AccuWeather

People walk along a road during the passing of Hurricane Melissa in Rocky Point, Jamaica. Picture: Matias Delacroix/AP

Hurricane Melissa weakened slightly to a still powerful Category 4 hurricane after making landfall in Jamaica Tuesday afternoon as the strongest-ever storm to directly hit the Caribbean nation of 2.8 million people.

Melissa made landfall near the town of New Hope, 62 km (39 miles) south of Montego Bay, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory, well above the minimum strength of a Category 5 storm, the most powerful level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.