Hurricane Melissa has developed into a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of up to 220kmph and is expected to strengthen as it heads towards Jamaica, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said yesterday.
Melissa is about 180km south of Kingston and expected to make landfall in Jamaica tonight or tomorrow morning and hit southeastern Cuba later tomorrow, the NHC said, with catastrophic floods, landslides and storm surges expected in the region.
During a Press conference in Kingston yesterday, authorities said both international airports were closed and 881 shelters have been activated around the country.
“Many of these communities will not survive the flooding,” Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government, said. “Kingston is extremely low. No community in Kingston is immune.”
Authorities said a decision on whether to issue a mandatory evacuation order would be made later in the day, while imploring residents to evacuate, with assistance being provided.
Some residents, however, chose to stay put, and authorities said some have refused to board evacuation buses.
“We are riding out the storm, we’re not going to go anywhere. Just sitting down and watch everything, make sure everything’s working good,” said Douglas Butler, a local boat captain in Port Royal.
The NHC said Melissa is expected to bring 15 to 30 inches of rain to Jamaica and southern Hispaniola with a local maximum of up to 40 inches.
Eastern Cuba is expected to receive 10 to 15 inches, with local amounts of up to 20 inches.
&uuid=(email))