Hurricane Melissa hit Pummel Jamaica on Tuesday as a category 5 storm, the strongest to hit the island since records began.
The storm is expected to make landfall Tuesday morning and cross the island, entering St. Elizabeth Parish in the south and exiting St. Ann Parish in the north, forecasters said. Soon after that, Melissa is expected to hit Cuba.
Hours before the storm, the Jamaican government said it was doing everything possible to prepare as it was warned of catastrophic damage.
“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand phase 5,” said Ndukazi Andrew Holness. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That is the challenge.”
On Tuesday morning, Melissa was centered 180 kilometers west – southwest of Kingston and 465 kilometers southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 280 km/h and moved northeast to northeast at 8 km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.
‘Uncertainty is Scary’
Landslides, fallen trees and power outages were reported ahead of the storm, with officials in Jamaica warning that cleanup and damage assessments will be slow.
It is expected to be expected to be four meters to four meters across Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on other hospitals near the beach. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients are being moved from the ground floor where possible.
The storm has already been blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and at home in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
“We’re going to get into it all the time,” said Evan Thompson, director general of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service.
Colin BOGLE, a Corn Corps Advisor based near Kingston, said most of the families are local
“Many have never seen anything like this before, and the uncertainty is scary,” she said. “Great fear of losing homes and training, of being hurt, and being dispossessed.”
Matthew SAMUDA, Jamaica’s water and natural environment, said he had more than 50 producers found after the storm, but warned people to set aside fresh water and use it sparingly.
“Always down will count,” he said.
Up to 50 cm of rain is possible in parts of Cuba
Melissa is also expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba on Tuesday as a strong storm.
A typhoon 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 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a major storm surge on the coast.
Cuban authorities said Monday they were fleeing more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, its second-largest city.
Melissa also issued southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a tropical storm warning still in effect for Haiti.
The storm was forecast to turn northeast after Cuba and hit the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday evening.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the southeastern and central Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
