Hurricane Melissa was set to pummel Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, the strongest to lash the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago.

Satellite video show Hurricane Melissa intensifying in the Caribbean, with dramatic cloud formations and lightning flashes captured near the eye of the hurricane.

"This is a frightening situation for Jamaica," the country's Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change tells the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.