He Hurricane Melissa It reached the maximum category this Monday with winds of up to 270 kilometers per hour as it approached Jamaica, where residents are seeking refuge from what may be the most violent storm to hit this island.
Melissa has already caused four deaths during the week: three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where a teenager is also missing.
“Melissa is now a Category 5 hurricane,” said the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“Destructive winds, storm surges and catastrophic flooding will worsen in Jamaica throughout the day and into the night,” he warned.
The slowness with which the storm moves is worrying, since the areas in its path may suffer adverse conditions for a long time.
The winds caused by Melissa reach maximums of 270 kilometers per hour, the NHC indicated in its latest bulletin. Forecasters predict about three feet of rain, flash flooding and landslides in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The inhabitants of the affected areas “They must remain protected in their homes for two or three daysor even longer for populations left isolated by catastrophic flooding,” NHC deputy director Jamie Rhome had previously noted in a video.
He warned that conditions in Jamaica “will deteriorate very, very rapidly in the next few hours.”
Authorities fear that Melissa could be more lethal and destructive than Gilbertthe hurricane that in 1988 caused 40 deaths in Jamaica, and another hundred in the rest of the Caribbean and Mexico.
“A bet that cannot be won”
Jamaica’s Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, reported in a press conference that storm shelters were opened across the country.
“This is a bet that you cannot win. You cannot bet against Melissa,” he emphasized.
Melissa is the thirteenth named storm in the Atlantic hurricane seasonwhich runs from the beginning of June to the end of November.
After passing through Jamaicathe storm is forecast to continue north and cross eastern Cuba on Tuesday night, while continuing to impact Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
In the Dominican Republic, a 79-year-old man died after being swept away by a stream, and a 13-year-old boy remains missing, local authorities reported Saturday.
In Haiti, the civil protection agency reported the death of three people due to the storm.
“You feel helpless, unable to do anything, just run and leave everything behind,” Angelita Francisco, a 66-year-old housewife who fled her neighborhood in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, told AFP.
The NHC warned of “catastrophic and life-threatening flash floods, as well as numerous landslides” in Jamaica.
The destructive winds will cause “significant damage to infrastructure and prolonged power and communications outages,” he added.
Jamaica Meteorological Service predicted a storm surge of up to four meters along the country’s southern coast, and authorities ordered evacuations of several coastal areas of the island nation.
He Kingston International Airport closed on Saturday night, as did all seaports.
- The last major hurricane to hit Jamaica was Beryl in early July 2024, which caused at least four deaths.
