Hurricane Melissa live: life-threatening category 5 storm to bring 175mph winds as it moves towards Jamaica | Hurricanes
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Summary of the day so far
Islanders are nervously awaiting landfall of category 5 Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica early on Tuesday, even though strong winds and heavy rains are already buffeting the south coast and inland areas.
Here’s what we’ve been following so far:
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Officials say the hurricane, one of the strongest ever recorded in the Caribbean, has “the ingredients to be a catastrophic storm”. Liz Stephens, professor in climate risks and resilience at University of Reading, said: “Communities in Jamaica will need to prepare for potentially unimaginable impacts, and with climate change fuelling stronger storms with higher rainfall totals, this is a stark example for other countries as to what may be in store for them.”
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At least six deaths have already been attributed to the storm. Three people were killed in Haiti and another in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing, according to the Associated Press. Two people died in Jamaica over the weekend as they cut trees ahead of the storm.
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Emergency evacuations have been under way in vulnerable areas of Jamaica for many hours, even though officials warn no area of the island will be immune to Melissa’s 157mph+ winds, combined with its potentially deadly storm surge.
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Andrew Holness, the prime minster of Jamaica, told an emergency briefing in Kingston on Monday, that residents were turning up at some of his country’s 881 hurricane shelters only to find them locked. “We have to strengthen this part of our preparedness, of getting the shelter managers to not wait until someone is coming. Once we activate the shelter, it should be open and ready for persons to come in, even if no one comes,” he said.
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Jamaica’s two international airports have been closed since Sunday. Desmond McKenzie, the minister of local government, warned: “Many communities will not survive the flooding. Kingston is extremely low. No community in Kingston is immune.”
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After moving north through Jamaica on Tuesday, Melissa will set its sights on Cuba on Tuesday night, and then the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center in Miami on Monday issued a hurricane warning for most of eastern Cuba, including the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin; and a hurricane watch is in place for the Turks and Caicos islands and south-eastern Bahamas.
Key events
Jamaica PM warns of ‘significant’ impact of hurricane
Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holnes said he doesn’t believe that “any infrastructure within this region that could withstand a Category 5 storm, so there could be significant dislocation.”
In an interview with CNN, he said: “I urge all Jamaicans and people who are friendly well-wishers of Jamaica, to continue to pray that this hurricane does not hit us directly.”
Hurricane Melissa has begun its long anticipated slow turn towards the north, and is positioning itself for a direct hit on Jamaica’s south coast early on Tuesday, the director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said in a Monday afternoon update.
Dr Mike Brennan said the slow-moving storm was about 140 miles south west of Kingston, Jamaica, at 5pm ET, and crawling towards the north west at about 3mph.
“Earlier today [it] was moving west, so we’re starting to see that turn to the north, and then the north northeast,” he said in a video briefing on YouTube.
“It’s going to bring the center of Melissa to the south coast of Jamaica early Tuesday morning. We’re expecting destructive winds in the eye wall of Melissa as it makes landfall and moves across the island, so we can have complete damage, destruction of shelters, homes and buildings in the path of that eye wall, not just along the coast, but in areas of high terrain across the central part of the island.”
Brennan said he expected nine to 13 feet of storm surge inundation, “destructive wave action along the coast” to beyond Kingston, and the potential for up to 30 inches of rain.
“Everyone in Jamaica needs to be in their safe place now to ride out the storm all the way through tomorrow,” he said.
Despite funding cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the ongoing government shutdown, the NHC has promised to maintain a full operation during the storm, including regular website updates, video briefings such as the one Brennan just gave, and regular appearances on television and radio networks to keep people informed.
‘As prepared as possible’: Jamaica energy minister discusses hurricane’s imminent landfall
The Guardian’s Anthony Lugg and Natricia Duncan in Jamaica have been speaking exclusively this afternoon with Daryl Vaz, the country’s minister for energy, science, telecommunications and transport.
He tells my colleagues that Jamaica is “as prepared as possible” for landfall early Tuesday of category 5 Hurricane Melissa.
“I’m not sure that anyone or any country can prepare for category 5. But in terms of what we have put in place, we are comfortable that we are ready to receive the effects of the hurricane,” he said.
Vaz also said that there has been an increase in evacuations, after concerns that residents in hurricane vulnerable locations were refusing to leave their homes.
“Over the last hour we have moved from 140 evacuations to 315 and I expect that number to increase rapidly during today,” he told the Guardian.
Vaz said that lessons have been learnt from Hurricane Beryl, which devastated parts of the island last July.
“When we compare ourselves to readiness in comparison to Beryl, it will be a significant improvement,” he said, adding that upgrades were the result of recommendations made after a review ordered by prime minister Andrew Holness.
Vaz said that additional technicians have been brought in from overseas to assist with restoration of power after Hurricane Melissa.
“They have 550 persons pre-positioned across the island to assist with the restoration. And of course, most importantly, they are working very closely with the telecommunication (companies) and the National Water Commission,” he added.
5pm ET update: Melissa still at 175mph, closing in on Jamaica’s southern coast
The National Hurricane Center in Miami has just released its 5pm ET advisory on Hurricane Melissa, and there’s very little for people in its forecast path to take comfort from.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds remain at 175mph, maintaining its elevation earlier Monday to a potentially devastating category 5 monster that is set to slam into Jamaica’s southern coast early on Tuesday.
“It is unlikely that Melissa will weaken significantly before reaching Jamaica, and there is no practical difference in Melissa making landfall at category 4 or 5 intensity, since both categories produce catastrophic wind damage,” Dr Jack Beven, the NHC’s senior hurricane specialist, wrote in an accompanying discussion.
“Catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides are expected through Tuesday. The eyewall’s destructive winds may cause total structural failure, particularly in higher elevations, leading to widespread infrastructural damage, prolonged power and communication outages, and isolated communities.
“Along the southern coast, life-threatening storm surge and damaging waves are anticipated through Tuesday.”
The news is little better for Cuba and the Bahamas, even though Beven said he expected Melissa’s intensity to weaken slightly over Jamaica’s mountainous terrain.
In eastern Cuba, he said: “Heavy rainfall with life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding and landslides is expected to begin tonight. Life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds are expected late Tuesday and Tuesday night. Preparations should be rushed to completion.”
As for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands, he said, “hurricane conditions, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall” are expected Wednesday.
Dr Michael Brennan, director of the NHC, will deliver a live briefing about the storm on the center’s YouTube page at 5.15pm ET.
Bahamas prime minister Philip Davis ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago, while much of eastern Cuba battened down ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s expected landfall, Reuters reports.
Cuban authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people living in coastal and mountainous areas vulnerable to heavy winds and flooding, and canceled schools and transport across eastern Cuba.
More than 250,000 people were brought to shelters around Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, which lies squarely in the crosshairs of the hurricane’s predicted path.
On the storm’s current forecast track, Melissa will be crossing eastern Cuba on Tuesday night, and traversing the south-eastern Bahamas about 24 hours later before heading north east into the open waters of the Atlantic.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic will be spared a direct hit, but the island of Hispaniola, which the two countries share, will be affected by high winds, storm surge and torrential rain, sparking flooding fears. On Monday afternoon the island’s west coast was under a tropical storm warning.
Residents in Jamaica have been telling reporters for the Associated Press they have no fear for the approaching storm, and were defying a mandatory evacuation order:
‘I hear what they say, but I am not leaving,’ Noel Francis, a 64-year-old fisherman who lives on the beach in the southern town of Old Harbor Bay, where he was born and grew up. ‘I can manage myself.’
His neighbor, Bruce Dawkins, said he also had no plans to leave his home.
‘I am not going anywhere,’ Dawkins said, wearing a raincoat and holding a beer in his hand. The fisherman said he had already secured his vessel and planned to ride out the storm with his friend.
Several towns along Jamaica’s southern coast already reported power outages as winds picked up throughout the night.
‘I don’t think the storm will damage my house. My only concern is flooding, because we live near the sea,’ said Hyacinth White, 49, who said she had no plans to evacuate to a shelter.
Hurricane Melissa, which by Monday afternoon had maximum sustained winds of 175mph, is forecast to be the most powerful storm to hit Jamaica in 174 years. More than 50,000 customers in Jamaica were already without electricity, the AP reported, a day before the storm’s landfall.
Minister: Jamaica shelters ‘safe and secure’
One of the the Jamaican government’s biggest worries for Hurricane Melissa, apart from the devastation the monster storm will cause, is crime, particularly looting.
A number of residents of Kingston, and elsewhere on the island, have already said they are reluctant to head to hurricane shelters for fear of crime, and for their personal safety.
Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and community development, said he was aware of the reports, and attempted to reassure citizens that the country’s 881 emergency shelters were secure, safe spaces, telling the Jamaica Observer:
Men and women are housed separately, except where whole families are being accommodated at the shelter. The shelters are clean and are provisioned with all necessary supplies to ensure that all hygienic and public health standards are maintained.
Additionally, the police will be patrolling the various spaces before and after the hurricane. I urge you not to be crippled by fear, or discouraged by rumours.
Prime minister Andrew Holness addressed looting fears at a press briefing on Monday:
I’m sufficiently satisfied that the security forces are properly deployed in such a way as to prevent any break in law and order.
Whenever there is any kind of disaster there will always be that element in our society who is not a part of the common good and has no concern for their neighbour. Stay inside, that’s the safest place to be and gives less work for the security forces, [to deal with] looting and other kinds of anti-social behavior.
Situations of uncertainty lead to panic, and it can lead people to deviant behavior.
Kingston webcams show lull before the storm
Live webcams in central Kingston show a wet, windy day on Monday afternoon as deadly Hurricane Melissa inches closer to a devastating landfall somewhere along Jamaica’s south coast early on Tuesday.
The images, streamed by See Jamaica Live, show only a handful of vehicles on usually busy streets, with very few pedestrians. Another camera showing the city’s famous Half Way Tree clock tower is here.
At an emergency briefing earlier on Monday, the country’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, urged residents to stay off the streets.
“We urge persons to stay inside,” he said.
“Stay within the precincts of your home. Don’t venture outside unnecessarily, because the winds can pick up at any time, the rains can come, you can be caught in a flash flood. Stay inside. That’s the safest place to be at the moment.”
AccuWeather: Hurricane Melissa a ‘dire situation unfolding in slow motion’
Hurricane experts say Melissa’s slow meander through the Caribbean will cause considerably more damage, and have farther reaching effects than faster-paced storms.
As of Monday lunchtime, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported, Melissa was on a west-northwesterly track at only 3mph. It will eventually speed up as it turn north, then northeast, but the storm – currently with maximum sustained winds of 175mph – is not forecast to emerge from the south-eastern Bahamas and into the open Atlantic until Wednesday night.
“This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion. A major hurricane slowly crawling toward an island with powerful winds, extreme rainfall, and damaging storm surge is a perilous situation for a place like Jamaica,” AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said in a statement.
“Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record. Tens of thousands of families are facing hours of extreme wind gusts above 100mph and days of relentless, torrential rainfall.
“A storm surge of 10 to 15ft in the hardest hit areas along the southern coast of Jamaica will risk lives and result in property destruction. Additionally, a storm surge of 6 to 10ft could damage or destroy critical infrastructure along the bays and shorelines near Kingston.”
Natricia Duncan
Further north in the Atlantic, the island of Bermuda lies in the center of Hurricane Melissa’s forecast path, with the storm expected to arrive in the early hours of Friday. Its premier, E David Burt, issued a message of “heartfelt support” on Monday to the people of Jamaica “during this time of uncertainty”:
Bermuda stands united with our Jamaican friends and neighbours, and we offer our steadfast support during this challenging time.
From our shared Caribbean heritage to the vibrant Jamaican community here in Bermuda, we are connected by family, friendship, and culture. The bond between our two countries is strong and runs deep.
I have reached out to Prime Minister [Andrew] Holness and expressed our thoughts and our concern and confirmed that the government of Bermuda stands ready to offer our assistance where possible.
Summary of the day so far
Islanders are nervously awaiting landfall of category 5 Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica early on Tuesday, even though strong winds and heavy rains are already buffeting the south coast and inland areas.
Here’s what we’ve been following so far:
-
Officials say the hurricane, one of the strongest ever recorded in the Caribbean, has “the ingredients to be a catastrophic storm”. Liz Stephens, professor in climate risks and resilience at University of Reading, said: “Communities in Jamaica will need to prepare for potentially unimaginable impacts, and with climate change fuelling stronger storms with higher rainfall totals, this is a stark example for other countries as to what may be in store for them.”
-
At least six deaths have already been attributed to the storm. Three people were killed in Haiti and another in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing, according to the Associated Press. Two people died in Jamaica over the weekend as they cut trees ahead of the storm.
-
Emergency evacuations have been under way in vulnerable areas of Jamaica for many hours, even though officials warn no area of the island will be immune to Melissa’s 157mph+ winds, combined with its potentially deadly storm surge.
-
Andrew Holness, the prime minster of Jamaica, told an emergency briefing in Kingston on Monday, that residents were turning up at some of his country’s 881 hurricane shelters only to find them locked. “We have to strengthen this part of our preparedness, of getting the shelter managers to not wait until someone is coming. Once we activate the shelter, it should be open and ready for persons to come in, even if no one comes,” he said.
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Jamaica’s two international airports have been closed since Sunday. Desmond McKenzie, the minister of local government, warned: “Many communities will not survive the flooding. Kingston is extremely low. No community in Kingston is immune.”
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After moving north through Jamaica on Tuesday, Melissa will set its sights on Cuba on Tuesday night, and then the south-eastern Bahamas on Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center in Miami on Monday issued a hurricane warning for most of eastern Cuba, including the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin; and a hurricane watch is in place for the Turks and Caicos islands and south-eastern Bahamas.
Holness: residents finding some hurricane shelters locked
Richard Luscombe
Residents of Jamaica fleeing to shelters as Hurricane Melissa bears down on the island have been turning up to find themselves locked out, the country’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has just told an emergency briefing in Kingston.
Holness said officials needed to make “greater effort” to protect the public during and after the category 5 storm, which is expected to make landfall on the south coast early on Tuesday. He said 881 shelters were expected to be operational, but that there were “areas of concern”:
I am monitoring reports that persons have turned up at the shelters… but, for example, they can’t find the person who should open the shelter with the key. They know it should happen, but they’re just not on spot.
We have to strengthen this part of our preparedness, of getting the shelter managers to not wait until someone is coming. Once we activate the shelter, it should be open and ready for persons to come in, even if no one comes.
Holness was speaking at the headquarters of Jamaica’s office of disaster preparedness and emergency management (Opdem). He said crews were scrambling to ensure sufficient food was available in the shelters:
The government is not telling you that everything is perfect. There is no plan that is perfect except the plan of God, and man is fallible, so errors will be made. But that is not an excuse.
In a time of disaster, we must take a zero fail approach to the systems that we are building. So in as much as I’m talking to the public, I’m also talking to the heads of the institutions that are gathered here. Make greater effort to ensure that there is zero fail in our operations.
