Hurricane Melissa Hits Category 4, Jamaica Orders Evacuations

By Staff, Agencies

Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 4 storm Sunday, bringing life-threatening winds and rain to the northern Caribbean as Jamaica ordered mandatory evacuations, including in Kingston.

Jamaican officials had earlier urged those in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek refuge as Melissa rapidly climbs up the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale with the possibility of intensifying to a category 5 storm on Monday.

During a press conference in Kingston on Sunday, Jamaican authorities said both international airports were closed and 881 shelters had been activated.

“Many of these communities will not survive the flooding,” said Desmond McKenzie, the minister of local government. “Kingston is extremely low. No community in Kingston is immune.”

Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, later ordered mandatory evacuation orders for Port Royal in Kingston and six other vulnerable areas across the country including Old Harbor Bay.

Holness said earlier: “I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously. Take all measures to protect yourself.”

On Sunday night, Melissa was about 125 miles south-southwest of Kingston with sustained winds of 145 mph, moving west at 5 mph. The US National Hurricane Center warned it could reach Category 5 strength by Monday.

Melissa was forecast to dump up to 30 inches of rain on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola, with some areas possibly receiving as much as 40 inches [1 meter], the hurricane center said.

Experts warned that Melissa’s rapid intensification and slow movement could cause a catastrophic disaster. The hurricane center said Jamaica should expect severe damage, widespread outages, and isolated communities.

In Port Royal, one of Jamaica’s most vulnerable coastal villages, some residents ignored evacuation orders and chose to stay in their homes.

When Melissa leaves Jamaica it is expected to head towards Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 300mm of rain, before moving towards the Bahamas late on Wednesday.

The Cuban government on Saturday issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin.

The slow-moving storm has killed at least three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, with another missing, and is expected to linger for up to four days, the hurricane center warned.

In Haiti there were reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the north-east.

Haitian authorities, concerned about the storm’s slow movement, have set up food distribution lines, but many residents remain reluctant to evacuate.

The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic, cut water supplies for over 500,000 people, caused landslides, and left dozens of communities isolated.

The Bahamas Meteorology Department warned that Melissa could hit the southeast and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos with storm or hurricane conditions early next week.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which NOAA had forecast to be above normal with 13–18 storms