Category 5 Hurricane Melissa brings flooding and catastrophic winds to Jamaica : NPR

Men remove part of the roof Tuesday in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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Matias Delacroix/AP

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Heavy floodwaters swept across southwest Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and rocks fell onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Desmond McKenzie, vice-president of the Jamaica Disaster Risk Management Council, urged people to seek shelter and stay at home as the storm passes through the island.

“Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” he said.

Jamaica’s government said it had done everything it could to prepare and warned of devastating damage from the most powerful hurricane to hit the island since records began 174 years ago.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is how quickly the recovery will be. That’s the challenge.”

Massive wind damage is expected in the heart of Melissa and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph, said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Jamaica’s government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of devastating damage from the most powerful hurricane to hit the island since records began 174 years ago.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is how quickly the recovery will be. That’s the challenge.”

Landslides, fallen trees and widespread power outages were reported when Melissa came ashore near New Hope, with officials warning that cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. The storm is expected to cross the island diagonally and head towards Cuba, where the first intermittent rains were falling.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite government evacuation orders in flood-prone communities. He was sheltering at his grandmother’s house in Portmore, where everything went dark earlier in the morning after a loud explosion.

A couple jokes Tuesday on the coast of Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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“The noise is incessant,” he said. “People are anxious and just trying to hold on until the storm passes.”

Massive wind damage is expected in central Melissa and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph (322 kph), said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center.

“This is going to be a very dangerous scenario,” he said, warning that there would be “total building failures.”

Storm ties 2 records

Hurricane Melissa’s winds of 185 mph and central pressure of 892 millibars tied two records for the strongest Atlantic storm to make landfall. Pressure – the key measurement used by meteorologists – is linked to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in Florida. The wind speed is comparable to that of the 1935 hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, said hurricane scientists Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University and Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami.

“This has been a truly remarkable storm,” Klotzbach told the Associated Press.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Melissa had sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and was moving north-northeast at 8 mph (13 km/h), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered about 20 kilometers south of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and about 350 kilometers southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 4 meters is expected in southern Jamaica, with authorities concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coast. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients had been moved from the ground floor to the second floor, “and (we) hope that will be sufficient for any possible increase.”

A man called a local radio station and said he urgently needed to help a woman in western Jamaica who had gone into labor as the storm prepared to make landfall. The show’s host pleaded with listeners to direct the man to the safest hospital before an obstetrician called to provide detailed instructions on how to give birth, if necessary.

Jamaica prepares for consequences

McKenzie said the government was ready to respond immediately after the storm passed: “We have boats, helicopters, etc.”

The storm has already killed seven people in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person is still missing.

Cooks prepare meals at a shelter set up at a school ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s expected landfall in Old Harbour, Jamaica, on Monday.

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More than 240,000 customers were without power before landfall and about a quarter of the telecommunications system was offline, said Darryl Vaz, Minister of Transport and Energy. He said crews would clean and conduct tests at the island’s two main international airports on Wednesday in the hope of receiving emergency relief flights as early as Thursday.

United Nations agencies and dozens of nonprofit organizations had food, medicine and other essential supplies awaiting rushed distribution after the storm.

Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s Minister of Water and Environment, said he had more than 50 generators to deploy after the storm, but warned people to save clean water and use it sparingly.

“Every drop will count,” he said.

Melissa targets Cuba

Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain was forecast in some areas, along with significant storm surge along the coast.

Residents of Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city with more than a million residents, spent Tuesday frantically preparing for Melissa’s arrival. Few people were on the streets, while state television showed Cubans in rural areas rounding up animals and protecting crops.

Diamon Mendoza, 36, did not hide his concern about the inevitable storm.

“May God have mercy on us, because this is happening with great force,” Mendoza said. “Anything can happen.”

Authorities in the eastern province of Holguín prepared to evacuate more than 200,000 people on Tuesday and evacuated a similar number earlier from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed blue and white buses transporting evacuees to shelter early Tuesday. Families clung to babies and belongings and elderly people steadied themselves with canes as they disembarked.

Melissa also flooded southern areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a tropical storm warning still in effect for Haiti. The hurricane was expected to turn northeast and strike the southeastern Bahamas Wednesday evening.