The federal government’s hurricane hunters have continued to fly despite the shutdown. At least two missions — one operated by NOAA on Monday and the second by the Air Force on Tuesday — were aborted when pilots experienced dangerous turbulence passing through the hurricane.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a devastating Category 5 storm, tied for the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane in history.

Globally, Melissa ranks among the most powerful cyclones ever observed - just behind Mexico's Hurricane Patricia in 2015 and the record-holding Typhoon Tip of 1979.

Hurricane Melissa was making its way across Cuba on Wednesday as a Category 2 storm, a day after making landfall in Jamaica as one of the region’s strongest storms on record.

British tourists in Jamaica have been told to prepare as the island’s strongest storm on record closes in.

Its unusual strength is attributed to exceptionally warm ocean waters, with scientists linking this to human-caused climate change, which is predicted to lead to more intense storms globally.