Hurricane Beryl was barreling west toward Jamaica as a Category 4 storm on Tuesday, a day after it carved a trail of destruction across the southeast Caribbean and killed at least four people, officials said.

Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 storm late Monday, meaning it had maximum sustained winds of at least 157 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center of the United States. It was forecast to bring hurricane conditions to Jamaica on Wednesday.

Major Atlantic hurricanes have maximum sustained winds of 111 m.p.h. or higher on a five-tier scale that was developed in the 1970s. By Tuesday morning, Beryl had sustained winds near 165 m.p.h., the National Hurricane Center said.

No Atlantic storm has ever grown to Category 5 strength this early in the season, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University meteorologist who specializes in tropical cyclones. By Tuesday afternoon, the storm had been downgraded slightly to a Category 4.