The latest hurricane information from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the center of Hurricane Melissa is about 185km south of Kingston, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 233 km/h, becoming a Category 4 hurricane.
Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center noted that during a recent flight by the Hurricane Hunters, experts saw the eye of Hurricane Melissa shrinking, the pressure dropping, suggesting the storm is continuing to intensify. The storm is expected to continue to strengthen, potentially becoming a Category 5 storm, a super typhoon with forecast winds of up to 260 km/h when approaching Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa - the latest storm of the Atlantic hurricane season - claimed at least three lives in the Dominican Republic last week as it moved unusually slowly in the Caribbean, sending Hispaniola with rainfall ranging from 50 to more than 150mm.
According to the bulletin, this potential historic storm is heading towards Jamaica. The latest forecast shows the worst-case scenario is likely, with Melissa continuing to strengthen before making landfall on the southern coast of the Caribbean island at a near-very slow pace, leading to multi-day heavy rains, strong gusts of wind, flash floods and landslides.
Shelter is still moving west at a speed of 8 km/h and is expected to turn north and northeast on October 27 and 28, bringing the storm to Jamaica until the end of October 28, then to Cuba on the night of October 28 and to the southeastern Bahamas on October 29.
Jamaica has activated the country's emergency operation center, emergency generators, medical supplies and fuel are ready ahead of the storm's landfall. Kingston Airport will close from 9pm on October 25 and all of Jamaica's seaports will be closed until conditions improve.
The most recent storm to hit Jamaica was a Category 1 Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which caused extensive damage to infrastructure.
"We expect huge damage if the storm continues on its current trajectory," Jamaica Labor and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr warned.
The strong wind field and slow movement speed of Meliss towards Jamaica are expected to cause a strong high tide along the southern coast of Jamaica from the afternoon of October 27 to the morning of October 29, with a peak of high tide reaching 3-4m above the ground in the area near and east of the center of Meliss landfall.
The latest weather forecast from the US National Hurricane Center shows that the second landfall of Hurricane Melissa is expected to occur in southeastern Cuba on the night of October 28 or early morning of October 29. By midweek, Melissa is expected to accelerate into the southwest Atlantic, possibly approaching Bermuda.
