Cuba is bracing for Hurricane Melissa as it heads towards Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, threatening catastrophic damage at a time the government is already failing to provide the most basic services and thousands are sick because of the rise of mosquito-transmitted diseases and other illnesses linked to poor sanitary conditions.

Hurricane Hunters were forced to cut short their reconnaissance mission into the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Monday morning, Oct. 27.

As Hurricane Melissa intensifies into a powerful Category 4 storm with the potential to reach Category 5 strength, U.S. authorities at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have begun evacuating non-mission-essential U.

Tropical Storm Melissa is forecast to rapidly intensify over the weekend, bringing life-threatening rainfall and destructive winds to parts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Cuba. AccuWeather® hurricane experts now predict Melissa to make landfall in Cuba as a major hurricane next week,

A powerful hurricane is barreling toward Jamaica with anticipation that it will be the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean island in modern history. Hurricane Melissa began rapidly intensifying over the weekend.