Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica on Tuesday, prompting the prime minister to declare the country a disaster area, after the storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.

Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, has ordered a mandatory evacuation of low lying areas as the island prepares for Hurricane Melissa to make landfall.

In addition to the rainfall, Melissa is likely to cause a life-threatening storm surge on Jamaica's southern coast, peaking around 13ft above ground level, the US centre said.