KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct 28, (AP): Hurricane Melissa was set to pummel Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago. Hours before the storm, the Jamaican government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage.

The streets in the capital, Kingston, remained largely empty except for the lone stray dog crossing puddles and a handful of people walking briskly under tree branches waving in a stiff wind. "There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. "The question now is the speed of recovery.

That’s the challenge.” The storm is expected to make landfall on Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island. Shortly after, it is expected to hit Cuba. Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported ahead of the storm, with officials in Jamaica cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment would be slow.

The storm is expected to enter near St. Elizabeth parish in the south and exit around St. Ann parish in the north, forecasters said. "Total structural failure is possible near the path of Melissa’s center,” the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) is expected across southern Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coastline.

Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, "and (we) hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place.” The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

On Tuesday morning, Melissa was centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 265 miles (430 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 7 mph (11 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"We will get through it together,” said Evan Thompson, principal director at Jamaica’s meteorological service. Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps advisor based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. "Many have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is frightening,” he said.