A man wades through a flooded street ahead of the forecasted arrival of Hurricane Melissa in Old Harbour, Jamaica, Monday. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters expected it to unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage. At that strength, it would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.

Blamed for six deaths in the northern Caribbean as it headed toward the island, Melissa was on track to make landfall Tuesday in Jamaica before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. It was not expected to affect the United States.

Anticipating the hardship in store for his country, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said, “I have been on my knees in prayer.”

Hanna Mcleod, a 23-year-old hotel receptionist in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, said she boarded up the windows at her home, where her husband and brother are staying. She stocked up on canned corned beef and mackerel and left candles and flashlights throughout the house.

“I just told them to keep the door closed,” she said. “I am definitely worried. This is actually the first time I’ll be experiencing this type of hurricane.”

Category 5 is the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph. Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to hit the small Caribbean nation directly, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

A storm surge of up to 13 feet was expected along coastal Kingston, which Porter said is home to critical infrastructure such as Jamaica’s main international airport and power plants.

“This can become a true humanitarian crisis very quickly, and there is likely going to be the need for a lot of international support,” Porter said in a phone interview.The storm already has drenched the Dominican Republic, where schools and government offices were ordered to remain closed on Monday in four of nine provinces still under the most serious form of weather alert.

Melissa damaged more than 750 homes across the country and displaced more than 3,760 people. Floodwaters also have cut access to at least 48 communities, officials said.

In neighboring Haiti, the storm destroyed crops in three regions, including 15 hectares (37 acres) of maize at a time when at least 5.7 million people, more than half of the country’s population, are experiencing crisis levels of hunger.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.