Miami/The strengthening of Tropical Storm Melissa, which could become a major hurricane over the weekend, will cause rains in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica and is also of interest to Cuba, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) indicated this Thursday.
In its latest report, the agency predicts that “Melissa will meander over the central Caribbean Sea for several days” and “become a major hurricane late this weekend or early next week,” which is of interest to Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
He warned that “across Puerto Rico, northern Dominican Republic, northern Haiti and western Jamaica, 5 to 10 centimeters of rain are expected through Sunday,” with possible flash and urban flooding.
In addition, he highlighted that hurricane conditions are possible in Haiti and Jamaica as of Friday afternoon.
Therefore, according to the NHC, “it is likely to move slowly and remain in the vicinity of Haiti, Jamaica and eastern Cuba for several days.”
The meteorological phenomenon, emerged on Tuesday, was in the latest NHC bulletin at 345 kilometers southeast of Kingston, in Jamaica, and 440 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince, in Haiti.
For now, it has maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour, with a movement towards the northwest at 7 kilometers per hour.
Therefore, according to the NHC, “it is likely to move slowly and remain in the vicinity of Haiti, Jamaica and eastern Cuba for several days.”
Although its motion is “erratic,” the NHC projected Melissa’s ridge “to move as a large-scale trough amplifies over the eastern United States.”
The cyclone keeps the authorities of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on alert, where the deputy executive director of the Dominican Civil Defense, Bernardo Rodríguez, reported this Wednesday almost fifty people sheltered in two collective centers to preserve their lives.
There have been 13 cyclones this year in the Atlantic: hurricanes Erin, Gabrielle, Humberto and Imelda, and storms Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter, Fernand, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo and Melissa, of which Chantal has been the only one to make landfall in the United States, where it caused two deaths in July in North Carolina.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted an “above normal” hurricane season, estimating between 13 and 18 tropical storms, of which between five and nine could become hurricanes.
