UPDATE: CBS news mid-day Monday report
As of Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center warned that the core of Melissa, which has been crawling along at 3 mph, was set to move near or over Jamaica late Monday and Tuesday. So strong were its winds that a NOAA aircraft gathering data inside the storm had to abandon its mission early “after experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall,” the hurricane center wrote in a Monday update.
As Hurricane Melissa barreled toward Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 27, the nation braced for possibly its worst hurricane in recorded history, evacuating parts of its capital, closing airports and opening hundreds of shelters.
Melissa, now a Category 5 storm, was expected to slam into the southern coast of Jamaica on Tuesday, Oct. 28, before approaching Cuba and the Bahamas, forecasters said.
Melissa was centered about 135 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, as of 8 a.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph and was moving at a sluggish 3 mph.
Fueled by the warm waters of the Caribbean, the storm exploded in strength over the weekend, with its wind speed doubling from 70 mph to over 140 mph. Melissa is expected to intensify further as it approaches Jamaica, forecasters said.
The storm could drop 40 inches of rain over Jamaica and slam its southern coast with storm surge over 10 feet, leading to catastrophic flooding on the coasts and well inland.
Worried about the communities being impacted by Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean – the strongest storm hitting Jamaica in decades – that could dump rain on the island for days – and will take decades to recover from as infrastructure is destroyed by the surge, winds, rains, and subsequent landslides, and people lose family members, neighbors, pets, homes, livelihoods, networks, culture, and health. Horrified it is already a category 5 hurricane – winds of 160 mph. Storm surge could be 8 feet or more.
Makes me worry for when the next severe storm hits Fiji, where my family is from – and brings back memories of devastation there from Cyclone Winston and many others. Makes me worry for the more than 1 billion people who live in coastal communities across the world.
These warnings mention the extreme rain made more dangerous by the mountain topography, but Kingston might also be hit by an unprecedented storm surge despite the built up barrier island (with the airport) that is between the bay and the Caribbean.