Copyright cbc
Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters expected it to unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage. At that strength, it would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851. Already blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean as it heads toward the island, Melissa is on track to make landfall early Tuesday in Jamaica before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. It is not expected to affect the United States. Anticipating the hardship in store for his country, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: "I have been on my knees in prayer." By Monday night, Melissa was centred about 245 kilometres southwest of Kingston and about 535 kilometres southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 280 kilometres per hour and was moving west-northwest at four kilometres per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Parts of eastern Jamaica could see up to 76 centimetres of rain while western Haiti could get 40 centimetres, the hurricane centre said, citing the likelihood of "catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides." "Do not venture out of your safe shelter," the center warned. "Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely." Evacuation orders not heeded A storm surge of up to four metres was expected along coastal Kingston, which is home to critical infrastructure such as Jamaica's main international airport and power plants. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in seven flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter. "I urge every Jamaican to prepare, stay indoors during the storm and comply with evacuation orders," Holness said in a video message posted on social media. "Check on your neighbours, especially the elderly and vulnerable, and continue to pray for our nation's safety." Officials said the biggest storm surge was expected in the Black River community in western Jamaica, where Sandra Walker was the sole street vendor working just hours ahead of the hurricane. "I have no choice but to be here," she said as she sorted potatoes, green bananas, tomatoes and scallion stalks in her stall. Walker, a single mother of two, is still struggling to recover after Hurricane Beryl destroyed her business and home last year. She lives by the ocean but does not plan to go to a shelter because she had a "terrible" shelter experience during Hurricane Ivan, when the facility offered only a handful of tins of corned beef to share. Jamaican government officials said they were worried that fewer than 1,000 people were in the more than 130 shelters open across the island. "It's way, way below what is required for a Category 5 hurricane," said Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's transport minister, who urged people "to be smart ... If you are not, unfortunately, you will pay the consequences." Deaths in Haiti, Dominican Republic The slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. Two people died in Jamaica over the weekend as they cut trees ahead of the storm, and a third died after being electrocuted. After Jamaica, the hurricane was expected to make another landfall later Tuesday in eastern Cuba. A hurricane warning was in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 51 centimetres of rain were forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast. Evan Thompson, principal director at Jamaica's meteorological service, warned that cleanup and damage assessment would be severely delayed because of anticipated landslides, flooding and blocked roads. A storm of Category 4 or higher has not made landfall in Jamaica in 174 years of record-keeping. Hurricane Gilbert was a Category 3 storm when it hit the island in 1988. Hurricanes Ivan and Beryl were both Category 4, but they did not make landfall, Thompson said. The storm already has dropped heavy rain in the Dominican Republic, where schools and government offices were ordered to remain closed on Monday in four of nine provinces still under red alert. Melissa damaged more than 750 homes across the country, displacing more than 3,760 people. Floodwaters also have cut access to at least 48 communities, officials said. In neighbouring Haiti, the storm destroyed crops in three regions, including 15 hectares of maize at a time when at least 5.7 million people, more than half of the country's population, is experiencing crisis levels of hunger, with 1.9 million of those facing emergency levels of hunger. "Flooding is obstructing access to farmland and markets, jeopardizing harvests and the winter agricultural season," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said. Melissa was expected to keep dumping torrential rain over southern Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic in upcoming days.
