Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory. It was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, the NHC added.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the hurricane made landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope with maximum sustained winds estimated at 185 mph. The agency warned that this is an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” urging people in the area not to leave their shelters as the storm’s eye passes overhead. The storm has already been blamed for three deaths in Jamaica and four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Jamaica’s Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, provided an update on the island’s response to the disaster, reporting that nearly 6,000 people are now in shelters. He urged residents of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland, where Hurricane Melissa is expected to hit, to immediately seek emergency shelter, stressing that this will be the final official warning.
Jamaica’s Minister of Energy and Transport, Daryl Vaz, said the electrical grid has already been affected by the storm and that there have been several outages across the country. Vaz added that 240,000 customers are without power after critical high-voltage substations, transmission lines and island-wide distribution systems were forced out of service.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that it is sending solar lamps, blankets, family tents, generators and other supplies from its logistics hub in Barbados to Jamaica, once the storm passes the island. “Many people are likely to be displaced from their homes and in urgent need of shelter and assistance,” said Natasha Greaves, IOM’s acting head of mission in Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, has ordered the mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas amid warnings of catastrophic flooding, landslides and major infrastructure damage.
After Jamaica, Melissa is expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba later today.
In Cuba, authorities stated that they had evacuated more than 500,000 people from areas vulnerable to strong winds and flooding.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Hurricane Melissa could affect 1.5 million people in Jamaica alone.
A World Meteorological Organization official said the hurricane will be “the storm of the century” for Jamaica and is expected to cause a “catastrophic situation.” / The Guardian
