Hurricane Melissa is forecast to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late today (Monday) or Tuesday morning and people on the island have been urged to seek shelter immediately as the slowly moving storm threatens to dump over 1,000 mm (40 inches) of rain on some areas of the island.
The storm was expected to intensify into a Category 5 storm Sunday night, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and the Dominican Republic, before moving on towards Cuba and then the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.
“Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s deputy director Jamie Rhome said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.”
It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.
“There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said.
He said all members of the National Response Team are now on full alert.
Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, further warned, “With the slow movement of this system, it doesn’t allow you to recover. It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving, and that is a significant challenge that we have to be aware of.”
On Sunday, Canadian director of the Jamaica Tourist Board Angella Bennett, who was on-island, posted a video on Facebook in which she said she had lost power and taken the decision to return to Canada before the hurricane hit with “full force” in order to be more effective in reporting news on the storm.
“To all our guests that are staying on island and unable to get out, I ask you kindly to stay in the hotel, be guided by the direction of the hotel management – they are fully prepared, and they are in protocol mode and will continue to take the best care of you.
“And we will continue to update the trade directly from our tourism emergency centre that has full communication with hotel management and Jamaica transportation and utility companies, the airports, and all relevant authorities that can give direction in the storm.”
Bennett said the updates would be provided daily from its centre in Canada “so that we can keep our partners and our guests informed.”
Jamaican tourism minister Edmund Bartlett said, “We have learnt from experience that preparedness is the foundation of recovery. This coordinated response reflects Jamaica’s investment in robust disaster risk management systems across all levels of our tourism industry.”
He added, “Our tourism stakeholders remain calm, vigilant and united in our efforts to protect both our people and our industry.”
Airports closed and shelters activated
Jamaica’s main airport in Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport, shut down at midday on Sunday as the island’s national emergency agency activated its level 3 emergency protocol ahead of Melissa.
The biggest airport on the island, Norman Manley International Airport in the capital, Kingston, closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
The Airports Authority of Jamaica advised passengers to contact their airline for information about flights.
Club Mobay and Club Kingston in the airports reported that they would be closed until further notice and that those with eligible bookings (via credit) would be offered a refund. Those who booked through a tour operator were advised to contact them for details.
Other islands
The erratic and slow-moving storm killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 300 mm of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
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