Jamaica braces for Hurricane Melissa, island’s strongest storm on record

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Officials successful Jamaica person urged radical to enactment wrong their shelters arsenic Hurricane Melissa churns towards the Caribbean land arsenic the astir destructive tempest connected grounds to deed the area.

The Category 5 hurricane is expected to marque landfall aboriginal connected Tuesday adjacent St Elizabeth Parish successful the southbound and permission the land astir St Ann Parish successful the north.

‘Catastrophic’ winds, flooding

The tempest already has been blamed for 7 deaths successful the Caribbean – 3 successful Jamaica, 3 successful Haiti and 1 successful the Dominican Republic, wherever different idiosyncratic remains missing.

The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported precocious connected Monday that Melissa was inactive 240km (150 miles) southwest of Kingston with maximum upwind speeds of 282km/h (175mph).

It said the tempest was expected to bring “catastrophic winds, flooding and tempest surge” to Jamaica connected Tuesday.

Landslides, fallen trees and galore powerfulness outages were reported up of landfall arsenic officials besides warned of a life-threatening tempest surge of up to 4 metres (13ft) crossed confederate Jamaica.

Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s section authorities and assemblage improvement minister, told Al Jazeera the authorities had done each it could to prepare.

“We person enactment everything successful spot successful regards to what are required successful presumption of evacuation, getting radical to our shelters, providing the requisite resources, … and we person been cleaning our drains. We person been cleaning our gulleys,” helium said from Kingston.

“We person done each the mitigation exercises. We person done nationalist education, and present it is simply a substance of seeing what the result of Melissa volition be,” helium said.

McKenzie said 881 shelters person been acceptable up crossed the country.

“I indispensable admit that not each the shelters person persons successful the shelters. We person seen an uptick successful the fig of persons turning up to the shelters. The request successful definite parishes are overmuch greater than successful some,” helium said.

‘I americium not moving’

Despite the pleas to evacuate, galore residents said they were staying put.

“I americium not moving. I don’t judge I tin tally from death,” Roy Brown told the AFP quality bureau successful Kingston’s seaside country of Port Royal.

The plumber and tiler said helium was reluctant to fly due to the fact that of his past experiences with the mediocre conditions of authorities hurricane shelters.

In the Flagaman farming assemblage of St Elizabeth, immoderate residents were hunkering down successful a store.

Owner Enrico Coke said helium opened his spot for fearfulness that his neighbours had obscurity to go.

“I’m acrophobic astir farmers. The fishermen volition beryllium suffering aft this,” helium told AFP. “We’ll request assistance arsenic soon arsenic possible, particularly h2o for the people.”

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps advisor based adjacent Kingston, said astir families are sheltering successful spot contempt the authorities ordering evacuations successful flood-prone communities.

“Many person ne'er experienced thing similar this before, and the uncertainty is frightening,” helium told The Associated Press quality agency. “There is profound fearfulness of losing homes and livelihoods, of wounded and of displacement.”

Meteorologists said portion of Melissa’s punch stems from its dilatory pace: It is lumbering on slower than astir radical walk, astatine conscionable 5km/h (3mph) oregon less.

That means areas successful its way could endure punishing conditions for acold longer than during astir hurricanes.

People instrumentality structure successful a schoolhouse up of Hurricane Melissa's forecast accomplishment successful Old Harbour, Jamaica, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.

Climate change

After pummelling Jamaica, Melissa is forecast to transverse implicit eastbound Cuba connected Tuesday night.

A hurricane informing was successful effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin provinces portion a tropical tempest informing was successful effect for Las Tunas.

Up to 510mm (20 inches) of rainfall were forecast for parts of Cuba on with a important tempest surge on the coast.

Cuban officials said connected Monday that they were evacuating much than 600,000 radical from the region, including Santiago, the island’s 2nd largest city.

A hurricane informing was besides successful effect for the southeastern and cardinal Bahamas, and a tropical tempest informing was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Meteorologist Kerry Emanuel said planetary warming was causing much storms to rapidly intensify arsenic Melissa did, raising the imaginable for tremendous rains.

“Water kills a batch much radical than wind,” helium told AFP.

The past large hurricane to interaction Jamaica was Beryl successful July 2024 – an abnormally beardown tempest for that clip of year.

“Human-caused clime alteration is making each of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa adjacent worse,” clime idiosyncratic Daniel Gilford said.

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