Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5 strength Monday as it neared Jamaica, where forecasters said it would unleash catastrophic flooding, multiple landslides and extensive infrastructure damage. It would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.
Melissa, blamed for six deaths in the northern Caribbean as it headed toward the island, was forecast to make landfall on Jamaica on Tuesday and then Cuba later in the day before heading toward the Bahamas, but it was not expected to affect the United States. Hanna McLeod, a 23-year-old hotel receptionist in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, said she will have to work during the hurricane, but that her husband and brother will be at her house, where they boarded the windows and she left candles and flashlights scattered throughout.
“I just told them to keep the door closed,” she said. “I am definitely worried. This is actually the first time I'll be experiencing this type of hurricane.” Mcleod said she bought her favourite canned food, corned beef, but that other members of her family prefer mackerel, “so I got a lot of those.”
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds exceeding 250 kph. Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to directly hit the small Caribbean nation, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
Porter said that critical infrastructure, including Jamaica's main international airport and power plants, is located along the coast in Kingston, where a storm surge of up to 4 metres was expected. “This can become a true humanitarian crisis very quickly, and there is likely going to be the need for a lot of international support,” Porter said.
On Monday morning, Melissa was centred about 220 kilometres southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 515 kilometres southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 260 kph and was moving west at 5 kph, the centre said. Some areas in eastern Jamaica could see up to 1 metre of rain while western Haiti could get 40 centimetres, according to the hurricane centre. “Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” it warned.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered in seven flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter. The slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
Two people died in Jamaica over the weekend as they cut trees ahead of the storm, according to the country's emergency management office.“I want to urge Jamaicans to take this seriously,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica's Disaster Risk Management Council. “Do not gamble with Melissa. It's not a safe bet.”
The hurricane was expected to make another landfall later Tuesday in eastern Cuba. A hurricane warning was in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 51 centimetres of rain were forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.
