Hurricane Melissa weakened slightly to a still powerful Category 4 hurricane after making landfall in Jamaica as the strongest-ever storm to directly hit the Caribbean nation of 2.8 million people.
Melissa made landfall last night near the town of New Hope, 62km south of Montego Bay, packing maximum sustained winds of 295kmph, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in an advisory, well above the minimum strength of a Category 5 storm, the most powerful level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
By 2000 GMT, it had weakened to 241kmph, the NHC said.
The slow-moving storm is forecast to remain a powerful hurricane as it crosses the mountainous island, whose highland communities are vulnerable to landslides and flooding, and heads towards Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second-largest city.
The Miami-based hurricane centre warned that ‘total structural failure’ was likely in Melissa’s path.
“The island has never taken a direct hit from a Category 4 or a Category 5 hurricane in recorded history,” said US forecaster AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert, Alex DaSilva. “The destruction could be unlike anything people in Jamaica have seen before.”
Melissa is the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988, according to AccuWeather. Gilbert was the last major storm to directly hit the island.
Colin Bogle, a local adviser to aid group Mercy Corps in Portmore, near Jamaica’s capital, said he had heard a loud explosion in the morning, and then everything went dark. Sheltering with his grandmother, he reported hearing relentless noise and saw trees violently tossed in the wind.
“People are scared. Memories of Hurricane Gilbert run deep, and there is frustration that Jamaica continues to face the worst consequences of a climate crisis we did not cause,” he said.
“Food aid will be needed, but recovery support like seeds, tools and repairs for vehicles will be just as critical to help people restore their livelihoods.”
Scientists warn that storms are intensifying faster as a result of climate change warming ocean waters.
As Jamaica’s electricity utility reported that more than a third of customers saw power knocked out across the island, Environment Minister Matthew Samuda told CNN his office was receiving videos of ‘severely damaged public infrastructure’, including hospitals and places of safety.
Some 70 per cent of the population lives within 5km of the sea, Samuda added.
Black River Hospital, 20km southeast of where Melissa made landfall, reported significant damage to one of its blocks.
Some 150km away from where Melissa made landfall, 64-year-old retiree Collin Henry McDonald in Portland Cottage told Reuters his community was seeing strong rain and winds, but his concrete roof was holding steady.
“It’s like a roaring lion. It’s mad. Really mad,” he said.
Local authorities reported before the storm made landfall that 6,000 people had moved into temporary shelters. The government had issued mandatory evacuation orders for 28,000 people, but some were reluctant to leave their homes.
The disaster co-ordinator for an area directly hit by the storm suffered a stroke while carrying out her duties and was rushed to hospital, Jamaica’s local government minister said.
In southeastern Jamaica, health authorities warned residents to watch out for crocodiles that could be displaced from swamps and rivers.
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