The State Department activated a Caribbean disaster response team following Hurricane Melissa's devastating impact on Jamaica, with teams arriving Thursday to provide aid.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm with wind speeds of up to 185 miles per hour.

Hurricane Melissa is now moving northeast from Cuba after hammering the island with powerful winds and rain. As the storm scrapes Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas with its destructive force, residents in low-lying and flood prone areas have been urged to evacuate ahead of a shelter-in-place order coming tonight.

Celebrity Beyond’s Oct. 26 itinerary will visit the Western Caribbean rather than the Eastern Caribbean, according to the cruise line’s parent company, Royal Caribbean Group. The ship will visit Costa Maya in Mexico, Belize and Roatan, Honduras.

Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm, producing maximum sustained wind speeds of 145 mph. If it maintains its strength, it could become the strongest hurricane to make landfall over the island since the National Hurricane Center started keeping records.

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest hurricane in modern history to hit Jamaica, has caused severe damage in the Caribbean

The Caribbean storm — among the most powerful in history, with 185 mph winds — is expected to bring flash-flooding and landslides as it slowly moves across the island and heads north toward Cuba.

"It is more than kind of distressing because you don't know when and you don't know how," said Ewan Simpson, who lives in Jamaica.