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The NBA’s Miami Heat, in partnership with the Micky & Madeleine Arison Family Foundation and Carnival Corporation & plc, has donated $1 million to the humanitarian organization Direct Relief to aid recovery efforts following Hurricane Melissa, according to the NBA. “In Florida, we are all too familiar with the widespread devastation caused by a Category 5 storm,” said Eric Woolworth, president of The Heat Group’s business operations. “Our hearts go out to the people of Jamaica,” he added. Direct Relief has prepared 100 field medic packs for Jamaica, which includes first-aid and triage supplies for front-line responders, the statement said. Hurricane Melissa made landfall at 3:10 a.m. ET Wednesday near Chivirico, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Melissa will track directly over southeastern Cuba for the next few hours, bringing damaging winds, flooding rain and life-threatening storm surge. Its center is currently moving northeast at 10 mph. Water is, by far, the biggest threat to life and property on the island nation. The storm surge along Cuba’s southeast coast could reach 8 to 12 feet above normal tide levels, with large, destructive waves making the flooding even worse. And then there’s the rain: 10 to 20 inches, with localized totals up to 25 inches in the mountains, could trigger life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding and landslides that will last long after the winds begin to ease. As Hurricane Melissa battered Jamaica, officials implored residents to stay indoors, but for a handful of teens who had never experienced a storm that powerful, curiosity got the better of them. “I’ve never seen a Category 5 storm, so I couldn’t help but imagine what it must be like,” Gavin Fuller, 15, told the Associated Press. Despite warnings from his parents, he ventured outside to experience the storm firsthand. “I wanted to know what it feels like to stand in the eye of something so powerful,” he said. Though his home wasn’t in the direct path of the hurricane, the tropical storm-force winds were enough to draw his neighbor, 16-year-old Demario Smith, outside as well. “Yes, I do believe that the storm is dangerous, but I just wanted to see for myself what it is doing. Feel how powerful the wind is blowing,” Smith told the AP. Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph sustained winds, just 80 miles southwest of Guantanamo, and is expected to make landfall on Cuba’s southern coast within hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane is moving northeast at 10 mph, which will carry the core across eastern Cuba through Wednesday morning before racing toward the southeastern and central Bahamas later in the day. Melissa has weakened slightly from Category 4 to Category 3, but remains an extremely dangerous major hurricane, per the hurricane center. Landfall is imminent along Cuba’s southeastern coastline. Flooding has already begun. Rainfall totals remain catastrophic – 10 to 20 inches across eastern Cuba, with isolated 25-inch peaks expected to trigger flash floods and landslides. Storm surge up to 12 feet above normal tide levels remains possible along the southeast coast. Hurricane conditions are spreading inland across the warning areas in Cuba. Once Melissa crosses eastern Cuba overnight, it won’t be done wreaking havoc. The hurricane is expected to move through the southeastern or central Bahamas on Wednesday, likely as a strong Category 2 at that point. Even with some weakening, Melissa will bring damaging winds, dangerous storm surge and 5 to 10 inches of rain capable of triggering flash floods and landslides across the islands. The Turks and Caicos islands will also be in the path of Melissa’s outer core, bringing tropical-storm conditions with hurricane-force gusts, dangerous surf, and up to 3 inches of rain that could trigger flooding. By Wednesday night, Melissa will catch a ride on the jet stream and begin accelerating to the northeast over open Atlantic waters. But the historic and persistent storm will not be quite done yet. Melissa is forecast to hurtle toward Bermuda, maintaining hurricane strength, by Thursday night, where it could deliver a brief but intense round of wind and drenching rain. After that, Melissa should continue racing into the open Atlantic — but its impacts and devastation across the Caribbean and western Atlantic will linger long after it leaves the region. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a disaster area Tuesday. The declaration is partly aimed at preventing price gouging, the prime minister said in a statement on Facebook, as residents in the country scramble to secure essential goods. “We must … continue to proactively maintain stability, protect consumers, and prevent any exploitation at a time when citizens are securing food, water, and supplies,” Holness said. “These orders give the Government the tools to continue managing our response to Hurricane Melissa,” he said. President Donald Trump said the US is keeping a close eye on the damage inflicted by Hurricane Melissa and is prepared to aid Jamaica in its recovery. “On a humanitarian basis, we have to. So we’re watching it closely and we’re prepared to move. But it’s doing tremendous damage,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One, en route from Japan to South Korea. “It’s literally just … knocking down everything in front of it,” Trump said of the storm.
