Madrid/The cone of the Tropical Storm Melissawhich has already caused three deaths and several serious injuries in Haiti, looks increasingly threatening for Cuba. Based on the most recent forecast from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), the US Embassy in Havana issued a travel alert this Friday warning that the cyclone “will begin rapid intensification” in about 24 hours, becoming a hurricane on Saturday and a “high intensity” hurricane on Sunday.
According to NHC forecasts, Melissa will be a Category 4 cyclone early next week, and could bring heavy rain and strong winds to different parts of the Island. “Meteorologists have reasonable confidence in the forecast, but due to the circumstances, it could change,” warns the diplomatic headquarters. “Heavy rains, strong winds and possible flooding are anticipated in eastern Cuba in the coming days.” For the southeast of the country, they continue, “the risk of damaging winds, rain and storm surge appears to be increasing.”
The American meteorological center warns in its part of 11:00 in the morning that Melissa “may be reforming to the east” and that “catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides” are expected south of Hispaniola and Jamaica this weekend.
“Significant and life-threatening flash flooding is expected”
Specialists estimate that hurricane conditions may occur within the watch area in Haiti and Jamaica starting late this weekend or early next week. As for precipitation, they expect Melissa to dump 25 to 50 centimeters of rain on southwestern Haiti and eastern Jamaica through Monday, with locally higher amounts possible, and heavy rain to occur after Monday.
However, the NHC warns, “uncertainty about the path and speed of Melissa’s advance reduces confidence in the exact totals”: “Significant and life-threatening flash floods, as well as numerous landslides, are expected in the southern Dominican Republic and eastern Jamaica, and catastrophic flash floods and landslides are anticipated in southern Haiti.”
Although the latest forecast of National Institute of Meteorology (Insmet), issued early this Friday, does not have that alarm tone, it does include an image in which it is clearly observed that the eye of the cyclone can hit the Island in the middle of next week.
At this time, the official report indicated, Melissa is “almost stationary” in the Caribbean Sea, about 260 kilometers southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and maintaining maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts. Insmet recognized that the system “represents a potential danger” for the country and that is why it maintains “close surveillance” over it.
During this weekend, official meteorologists predict, “the tropical storm will continue with a slow movement approaching Jamaica and the seas south of Cuba” and “gradual strengthening, followed by rapid intensification” is forecast.
In Haiti, the effects of Melissa, which is 450 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince, have the population on high alert. The Directorate of Civil Protection of that country (DPC) has warned of abundant rains and risk of flooding during the next few hours in several departments, in addition to landslides and falling trees. These last two causes were, precisely, what caused the deaths. Two people died in a landslide that occurred in Fontamara, near the capital, this Thursday, while another man died after a tree fell in the commune of Marigot, in the Southeast department.
About one hundred kilometers north of Port-au-Prince, in Praville, Artibonito department, a wall collapsed causing five injuries, including a 14-year-old girl who is in serious condition. These injuries are added to a similar number reported on Thursday, two of them seriously, due to flooding in several departments of the country, extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.
On the other hand, the flooding of the Saint Martin River, caused by heavy rains, destroyed a bridge in Sainte Suzanne, in the northeast of the country, while several homes have been destroyed or damaged in Port-de-Paix, in the northeast.
In the Dominican Republic, also greatly affected by the tropical storm, more than a million users have been left without drinking water, and the floods have caused the displacement of hundreds of people throughout the territory. In addition, the rainfall keeps 19 towns incommunicado.
At the moment, both the southwest of the Haitian peninsula, from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince, and Jamaica remain under hurricane and tropical storm watch.
