A slow-moving but deadly hurricane is inching towards Jamaica, threatening to unleash torrential rains and destructive winds on the Caribbean island.
Hurricane Melissa, which early on Monday was upgraded to a category five storm – the maximum strength – is expected to make landfall in the early hours of Tuesday.
The authorities fear that Melissa, which has already been blamed for the deaths of four people on the island of Hispaniola, could become the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.
Meteorologists warn that Melissa’s slow pace means it is set to dump torrential rain on affected areas for longer, increasing the risk of deadly flooding and landslides.
“This extreme rainfall potential, owing to the slow motion, is going to create a catastrophic event here for Jamaica,” Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), said.
The Jamaican government has ordered evacuations for parts of the capital, Kingston, and the entire island has been classed as “threatened”.
An update from the NHC at 15:00GMT said that Melissa was about 145 miles (233km) southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.
It was moving at just 3mph (6 km/h).
It has maximum sustained wind speeds of 165mph (270km/h) and could strengthen further in the next 12 to 24 hours, forecasters warned.
Metereologists say destructive winds and life-threatening storm surges are expected to hit Jamaica overnight on Monday or early on Tuesday.
If the hurricane continues on the forecasted track, its core will “move near or over Jamaica tonight and early Tuesday, across south-eastern Cuba Tuesday night, and across the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday” local time, the NHC said.
While forecasters say it is likely to fluctuate in strength in the coming hours, it is likely to reach Jamaica and south-eastern Cuba as “an extremely powerful major hurricane, and will still be at hurricane strength when it moves across the south-eastern Bahamas”.
According to the NHC, 40 inches of rain (100cm) are possible in parts of Jamaica over the next four days.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has ordered the immediate evacuation of several vulnerable communities across the island.
In a post on X, he urged “every Jamaican to prepare, stay indoors during the storm, and comply with evacuation orders”.
“We will weather this storm and rebuild stronger,” he wrote.
Officials also urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek shelter in safer areas.
In some rural areas, school buses were used to ferry vulnerable people to shelters and across the country. Toll booths have been opened to avoid any queues from forming.
At least three people are known to have died and hundreds of homes have been flooded in Haiti as Melissa brought torrential rainfall to the island of Hispaniola.
In the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern side of Hispaniola, one person also died.
Local media identified the victim as a 79-year-old man who had been swept away by floodwaters in the capital, Santo Domingo.
A 13-year-old has also been reported missing after being dragged away by strong currents as he was swimming in the sea.
Several people were rescued after being trapped in their cars by the rising floodwater.
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