Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica’s shores as people on the island hunkered down to deal with the strongest storm to hit the tiny Caribbean landmass since records were first kept 174 years ago.
Melissa is a Category 5 monster with sustained wind speeds of 295 km/h.
With a life-threatening storm surge of four metres predicted, the storm is expected to slice diagonally across the island, entering near St. Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St. Ann parish in the north, before heading for Cuba.
Officials warned there was no more preparation they could do and cautioned that the cleanup and damage assessment will be slow. The storm has already been blamed for at least seven deaths in the Caribbean — three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.
“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
“The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”
A slow-moving, powerful storm
As the storm approached, trees and powerlines were felled while residents faced devastating landslides in the torrential rain and wind.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reports buildings in the path of Melissa’s eye could face “total structural failure,” and reported maximum sustained windspeed topped out at 280 km/h, with the storm moving northwards at 11 km/h — a dangerously slow speed for such a powerful storm.
Aside from the winds and rain, areas in southern Jamaica would face storm surges of up to four-metres (13 foot) — adding devastating flooding to the list of calamities Jamaicans are facing on Tuesday.
Fears of flooding prompted health officials to move patients in western Jamaican hospitals to higher floors to escape the rising waters, Jamaican Health Minister Christopher Tufton told the Associated Press.
Melissa’s eye is expected to reach land on the island’s southwestern edge and track north towards the tourism hotspot and cruise ship terminal Montego Bay, about 123 km. west of the Jamaican capital of Kingston.
Not everybody heeding evacuation orders
Meanwhile, officials across the island made what preparations they could for the devastating storm, with media reporting streets across Kingston were largely deserted, while humanitarian officials set up temporary shelters for displaced residents.
But despite the danger, many residents are refusing to leave their homes.
“There are those daredevils out there who prefer to stay with their property,” said Esther Pinnock of the Jamaican Red Cross.
“We wish them the best.”
Meanwhile in Cuba, officials are moving nearly 600,000 people out of the storm’s path — Melissa is on course to cut a swath through that nation’s eastern portions, between Camaguey and Holguin.
Hurricane warnings are in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin provinces, with up to half a metre of rain and significant costal storm surges expected.
— With files from Associated Press, FRANCE 24
