Jamaica orders mandatory evacuations ahead of Hurricane Melissa
Jamaica and Cuba are bracing for Hurricane Melissa, which has intensified and could reach Category 5, the highest level, when it makes landfall either this evening or early Tuesday, forecasters warned.
The storm is expected to bring catastrophic floods, landslides, and storm surges across the region, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Jamaican authorities have urged residents to evacuate to one of 900 shelters set up across the island. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued mandatory evacuation orders for Port Royal in Kingston and six other areas.
Melissa currently has maximum sustained winds of up to 140 mph (220 kph) and is expected to strengthen as it approaches Jamaica. Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government, warned: “Many of these communities will not survive this flooding. Kingston is low, extremely low… No community in Kingston is immune from flooding.”
The slow-moving storm has already claimed at least three lives in Haiti and a fourth in the Dominican Republic, with another person reported missing.
The NHC forecasts that Jamaica and southern Hispaniola could see 38cm (15 inches) to 76cm (30 inches) of rain, with some areas receiving over a metre (40 inches). Eastern Cuba may receive 25cm (10 inches) to 38cm (15 inches), with local amounts up to 51cm (20 inches).
Warnings have been issued about widespread damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of many communities.
Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica's information minister, said the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency is ready to provide assistance, and several international partners have already pledged support. “We've heard the rainfall numbers. They're numbers we've never heard before,” she added.
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