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MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. The airfield at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, has been shut down for arrivals and departures until November 2 due to Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, a source in air traffic control told TASS. "The airfield is closed due to the hurricane, any flights uncontrolled by air traffic controllers in the area of the closed airport are banned for any type of aircraft," the source said. According to him, the ban is in effect until the end of the day on November 2. As reported earlier, around 1,000 employees of the US Department of War, their family members, and contractors were evacuated from the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, over the past weekend as Hurricane Melissa was approaching. According to the New York Times, all those evacuated were temporarily housed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida. They will remain there for the next two weeks. Earlier, air traffic controllers told TASS that due to weather conditions, airspace over Jamaica and the Cayman Islands had been blocked for flights. According to the US National Hurricane Center, Melissa is moving at a speed of four kilometers per hour and earlier was 215 kilometers away from Kingston, Jamaica. According to the weather service, the maximal speed of winds within the hurricane has intensified from 72.2 meters per second to 78.2 meters per second. Specialists expect that Melissa will bring dangerous catastrophic winds to Jamaica and trigger floods. Russia’s weather authority told TASS that in the next few hours, Melissa will not weaken in any significant way. The Jamaican Ministry of Health and Wellness said that at least three people died as a result of the hurricane.
