Hurricane Melissa began lashing Jamaica with violent gusts on Monday as the U.S. National Hurricane Center upgraded it to a Category 5 storm packing sustained winds of 165 mph, the largest on record to slam into the Caribbean island.

Hurricane Melissa is edging toward Jamaica and is set to make landfall as a historic Category 5 storm. NBC News' Tom Llamas speaks with an American couple stranded there.

As Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica, a Delaware County, Pennsylvania, woman is holding onto hope and her heritage from her kitchen. Lileith Brown owns Taste Jamaica Now, a takeout business she runs from her apartment in Media. The smells of jerk chicken, curry goat and oxtail remind her of the country she still calls home.