Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, with the possibility of intensifying to a Category 5 storm on Sunday night, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the US National Hurricane Center said.
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The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late on Monday or Tuesday morning and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.
“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”
Melissa was centred about 110 miles (180 kilometres) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 280 miles (445 kilometres) south-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, on Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220kph) and was moving west at 3 mph (5kph), the hurricane centre said.
Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 mm) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola – Haiti and the Dominican Republic – according to the hurricane centre. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 mm) of rain.
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It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica is to be expected.