Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Closes In On Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa reached Category 5 intensity Monday as it prepared to make landfall in Jamaica, weather officials reported.

Forecasters expect the monster storm to reach the northern Caribbean island Tuesday morning, potentially delivering floods, landslides, and massive property damage.

Michael Brennan, director of the National Weather Service’s (NWS) National Hurricane Center, reported in an update Monday afternoon that the system could be catastrophic.

“We’re expecting destructive winds in the eyewall of Melissa as it makes landfall and moves across the island,” Brennan reported. “We could have complete destruction of shelters, homes, and buildings in the path of that eyewall, not just along the coast but in areas of high terrain across the central part of the island as the center of Melissa moves across the island during the day on Tuesday.”

The hurricane has already been blamed for six deaths in the northern Caribbean. 

Category 5 is the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, with winds in excess of 157 mph. 

Warnings were issued for Jamaica on Monday.

“Everyone in Jamaica needs to be in their safe place now to ride out the storm, all the way through tomorrow,” Brennan added.

Weather forecasters recorded maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour in the system as it moved about 3 miles per hour towards Kingston. The center was expected to hit the south coast of Jamaica before traveling across the island.

The weather center was also concerned about the possibility of the hurricane bringing with it a life-threatening storm surge with the potential of reaching nine to 13 feet in areas, along with destructive wave action.

The storm also has the potential to drop 15 to 30 inches of rain, which could trigger deadly flash flooding and widespread landslides, Brennan said.

The United Cajun Navy, a Louisiana-based volunteer search and rescue organization, sent teams to Jamaica this week to prepare for a response.

Brian Trascher, vice president of the group, said volunteers were loading up trucks all week to respond to a number of incidents.

“We are now loading up and being prepared for Hurricane Melissa’s imminent landfall in Jamaica,” Trascher said in a video shared on X Monday. “We have folks on the ground waiting to take assessments and let us know what the needs are. And we’re still waiting to see where this shifty, tricky hurricane is going to make landfall.

The volunteers expect the hurricane to make landfall somewhere in Jamaica Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Melissa could be the strongest hurricane in nearly 40 years to hit the small island directly, according to Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

Porter said the hurricane could slip from a Category 5 to a Category 4 just prior to landfall, which could take a small edge off of its effects, but it is currently forecast to remain at the higher intensity.

“People choosing to ride out the storm in unsafe areas, or those who are unable to move out of harm’s way, will face great peril,” Porter said. “Everyone needs to follow evacuation orders in high-risk areas.”

Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in Cuba Tuesday night as it moves through the area. Heavy rainfall is expected to reach 10-20 inches in Cuba. The country could also experience catastrophic flooding and landslides, according to the NWS.

New warnings were issued in southeastern Bahamas into Wednesday night and Thursday.