Jamaica braces as Hurricane Melissa ‘rapidly intensifies’
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Hurricane Melissa has been strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane that threatens to unleash catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.
Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center warned the storm could be upgraded to a Category 5 storm on Sunday night.
Melissa has already hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is expected to reach the southern coast of Jamaica late on Monday or early Tuesday morning, with people living on the island warned to seek shelter immediately.
Cars were abandoned after floods caused by Hurricane Melissa in the Dominican Republic. Pic: AP
“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”
The hurricane is expected to bring torrential rain of up to 25in (64cm) when it hits Jamaica. A similar forecast was issued for the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through to Monday.
The visualisation above shows Hurricane Melissa’s path on Sunday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
On Saturday evening, Melissa was centred about 125 miles (200km) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 280 miles (455km) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It had maximum sustained winds of 115mph (185 kph) and was moving west at 3mph (6kph), the hurricane centre said.
Conditions in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Friday. Pic: AP
The storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic.
In Les Cayes, Haiti, residents said the effects of Melissa were catastrophic.
“The sea took our house. We have no place to stay. We came to the high school, but we have nothing to give the children to eat. We ask for help and support. We are not asking for much,” one woman, who did not want to provide her name, told the AP news agency.
Other people in the area are in shelters.
“I would like to move, but I have no place to go. I packed everything. I don’t have the means to go,” another resident said.
People travel through a flooded street in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Pic: AP
The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The hurricane’s forecasted path for the next five days. Pic: National Hurricane Center
Authorities in Jamaica said the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston will be closed at 8pm local time on Sunday. They did not say whether it will close the Sangster airport in Montego Bay, on the western side of the island.
More than 650 shelters have been set up in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed.
“So I would urge all my fellow citizens, everyone who is now feeling nervous, anxious, uncertain, that now is the time to be prepared,” the country’s prime minister said.
The Cuban government on Saturday issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin.
According to Cuban official television images, clean-up work is being carried out and fumigation of homes to prevent the spread of the epidemic outbreaks.
