Hurricane Melissa’s powerful winds and drenching rains devastated Jamaica. But is its wrath a sign that we need a new designation for monster storms?

The most powerful storm to hit the region since 1988 could inundate some areas of eastern Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain. The arrival of its core has been delayed by stalling.

Jamaica faces damaging winds and heavy rainfall Sunday and Monday that could trigger catastrophic and life-threatening flash floods and landslides.

Melissa is now a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, the U.S. Hurricane Center said on Saturday. The hurricane was located about 280 miles (450 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti,

The hurricane was ranked as a Category 5 storm, the highest level of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, when it reached Jamaica.

The scale of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa is emerging, with dozens of people known to have died in Haiti and four deaths reported in Jamaica - and the storm is now approaching the Bahamas.

Hurricanes are classified on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which ranks storms based on their sustained wind speeds and estimates potential damage. The scale has five categories, ranging from Category 1,

The strongest storm to directly hit Jamaica before Melissa was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which made landfall as a category four hurricane, according to the US National Weather Service. Damaging winds and heavy rain have hit eastern Cuba, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.