Haiti's Civil Protection Agency reported two people died and another was injured Thursday when the tempest triggered a landslide in the west of the island nation.

An elderly person also died when a tree fell on them amid downpours earlier in the week, the agency said.

Melissa, which remained categorized as a tropical storm as of Friday night, could strengthen into a hurricane in "in Haiti later this weekend and Jamaica beginning late this weekend or early next week," according to the US National Hurricane Center.

The center's latest update at 8:00 pm Eastern Time (0000 Saturday GMT) said "Melissa is expected to bring total rainfall of 15 to 25 inches (38 to 64 centimeters) to portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Tuesday."

It warned of possible "catastrophic flash flooding and landslides" across parts of Jamaica and the southern parts of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The storm is expected to impact southeast Cuba as well, with between four and eight inches of rainfall expected.