U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as Melissa intensified to a major hurricane, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported Melissa had maximum sustained winds of 185 km/h, reaching Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
Melissa is expected to intensify rapidly on Sunday and be a major hurricane when making landfall in Jamaica early next week, the Miami-based forecaster said.
The storm could drop up to 1,000 millimetres of rain on Jamaica by Wednesday, according to an update from the the agency at 11 p.m. ET Saturday.
A similar forecast was issued for the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through Sunday. Life-threatening flooding and landslides were possible, with up to 700 millimetres of catastrophic rain across southwestern Haiti, it said.
It’s also forecast to affect eastern Cuba by early Wednesday, where up to 30 centimetres of rain could fall in some areas.
A person stands in a flooded Santo Domingo street on Thursday. (Eddy Vittini/Reuters)
Melissa was moving west at six km/h Saturday night. The storm was located about 200 kilometres southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 455 kilometres southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
“Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm, it is increasingly dire,” Jamie Rhome, the centre’s deputy director, said earlier on Saturday. He said the storm will continue to move slowly for up to four days.
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The centre of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica early next week, forecasters said.
Authorities in Jamaica warned that all airports would close within 24 hours once a hurricane warning was issued. More than 650 shelters were activated. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages in place for quick distribution if needed.
“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”
People purchase supplies as they brace for Melissa’s arrival in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)
The hurricane centre confirmed the risks in a key message Saturday afternoon.
“Jamaica prep should be completed today. Melissa’s slow motion brings multi-day damaging winds plus heavy rainfall, catastrophic flash flooding, landslides, damage, long-duration power communication outages, isolation,” it said.
Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.
“The storm is causing a lot of concern with the way it’s moving,” said Ronald Delice, a Haitian department director of civil protection, as local authorities organized lines to distribute food kits. Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes.
The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
