Hurricane Melissa Slams Jamaica as Island’s Strongest Storm

Hurricane Melissa Slams Jamaica as Island’s Strongest Storm

Hurricane Melissa bore down on Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm — the strongest ever recorded to strike the island in nearly two centuries.

Forecasters said the storm would make landfall early Tuesday, cutting diagonally across Jamaica from St. Elizabeth parish in the south to St. Ann in the north before heading toward Cuba.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged residents to prepare for severe devastation, warning that “there is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5. The question now is the speed of recovery.”

Even before landfall, the storm brought landslides, downed trees, and widespread power outages. Emergency officials cautioned that cleanup and recovery could take days. A storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 metres) is expected along southern coasts, threatening hospitals and low-lying areas.

Health Minister Christopher Tufton said patients in vulnerable hospitals had been moved to upper floors to avoid floodwaters.

Melissa has already claimed seven lives across the Caribbean — three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic — with one person still missing.

By early Tuesday, Melissa was located about 115 miles (180 kilometres) west-southwest of Kingston, packing sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph) while moving north-northeast at 5 mph (8 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

“Many have never experienced anything like this before,” said Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps advisor near Kingston, describing widespread fear and uncertainty among residents.

Authorities have urged people to conserve clean water, warning of shortages in the aftermath of the storm.

Melissa is expected to hit eastern Cuba late Tuesday, prompting hurricane warnings in Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, and Holguin provinces. Cuban officials have already begun evacuating more than 600,000 people.

After crossing Cuba, the storm is forecast to turn northeast and reach the southeastern Bahamas by Wednesday evening, with hurricane and tropical storm warnings in effect across the region.