Melissa began packing strong wind gusts on Monday as the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded it to a Category 5, with sustained winds of 165 mph (265 kph), making it the strongest ever to hit the Caribbean island.
Cuba, the eastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands are also in the hurricane’s path, then it is expected to move north and east towards Bermuda later in the week.
The phenomenon is expected to remain off the coast of the United States, causing only strong waves and minor flooding in coastal areas of the East Coast.
At 12 noon on Monday (16:00 GMT), the typhoon was 230 km southwest of Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, and about 530 km southwest of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to the NHC in Miami.
The center said the typhoon was moving west at just 5km/h but was expected to turn northeast, crossing Jamaica from Monday night into Tuesday.
Its slow motion over the unusually warm waters of the Caribbean.
“Extensive damage to infrastructure, long-term power and communications outages, and cut off communities are expected,” the NHC said.
Already, Haiti and the Dominican Republic have been hit by heavy rains, resulting in at least four deaths, according to local authorities.
Damian Anderson, a teacher from Hagley Gap in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, said the roads are inaccessible and his community has been cut off.
“We can’t move,” he said. “We are afraid. We have never experienced something like this that lasts for so many days.”
Jamaica has experienced major hurricanes in the past, such as the category 4 Gilbert (1988), but a direct hit from a category 5 would be unprecedented, said Evan Thompson of the Jamaica Meteorological Service.
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir–Simpson scale, with winds over 250 km/h.
Preparations in Cuba
The eastern part of Cuba has already been put on alert as the hurricane is expected to arrive on Tuesday night.
Authorities said more than 500,000 people living in coastal and mountainous areas have been evacuated as a precaution due to the risk of strong winds and flooding.
More than 250,000 residents were evacuated to shelters around Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, which is directly in the path of the typhoon.
On Monday, authorities suspended schools, buses and trains across eastern Cuba in anticipation of the phenomenon’s arrival.
The typhoon is not expected to directly affect Havana.
