Melissa set to slam Jamaica as its strongest hurricane on record

Kingston, Jamaica — Hurricane Melissa was on track to hit Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic category 5 stormthe strongest to whip the island since record keeping began 174 years ago.

The storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday and slices diagonally across the island, entering near St. Elizabeth Parish to the south and exiting around St. Ann Parish to the north, forecasters said.

Hours before the storm, the government said it had done everything possible to prepare and warned of catastrophic damage.

“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 ahead of the storm, with Jamaican authorities warning that cleanup and damage assessment would be slow.

Melissa is expected to bring 15 to 30 inches of rain to parts of Jamaica and 6 to 12 inches to southern Hispaniola (the island divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) through Wednesday, with a total of 40 inches possible in some locations, the hurricane center said. “Catastrophic flash floods and numerous landslides are likely,” the center said.

For eastern Cuba, rainfall totals could reach 10 to 20 inches, with up to 25 inches in some areas Monday through Wednesday, which could lead to “life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” the center added.

And rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches are expected today through Wednesday over the southeastern Bahamas, leading to areas of flash flooding.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet 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 increase that may take place.”

The storm has already been blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person is missing.

Melissa was centered about 135 miles southwest of Kingston and about 310 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, well above the minimum of 157 mph needed to reach the summit of Hurricane Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. It was moving north-northeast at 2 mph, according to the hurricane center.

“We will get through this together,” said Evan Thompson, senior director of the Jamaica Meteorological Service.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps counselor based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite government evacuation orders in flood-prone communities.

“Many have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is scary,” he said. “There is a deep fear of losing one’s home and livelihood, of suffering injury and of being displaced. »

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 was also expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba on Tuesday evening as a powerful hurricane.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 20 inches of rain was forecast for parts of Cuba, along with significant storm surge along the coast.

Cuban authorities announced Monday that they were evacuating more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island’s second-largest city.

Melissa also flooded southern areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a tropical storm warning still in effect for Haiti.

The hurricane is expected to turn northeast past Cuba and hit the southeastern Bahamas Wednesday evening.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the southeast and central Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The U.S. State Department on Monday issued natural disaster travel alerts for Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Bahamas, urging U.S. citizens to consider leaving while flights are still available, or prepare to shelter in place.

And CBS News confirmed that a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hurricane Hunters aircraft was forced to abandon its mission Monday when it experienced “severe turbulence” in the storm’s southwest eyewall.