.theguardian - 16 hours ago

Jamaican officials call on public to get to higher ground and shelters ahead of hurricane amid warning of ‘multiple life-threatening hazards’Full report: Jamaicans take shelter as Melissa bears down on islandTell us if you’ve been affected by Hurricane MelissaThe US National Hurricane Centre has again warned on social media that Melissa is “expected to bring catastrophic and life-threatening winds, flooding and storm surge” to Jamaica on Tuesday.The director of the centre in Miami, Dr Michael Brennan, said in a live update on Monday that with the storm centre forecast to reach Jamaica’s coast “sometime early Tuesday”, destructive winds were expected in Melissa’s eyewall as it made landfall and moved across the island.So we could have complete damage, 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 centre of Melissa moves across the island during the day on Tuesday ...Everyone in Jamaica needs to be in their safe place now to ride out the storm all the way through tomorrow.Melissa was centred about 155 miles (245km) south-west of Kingston on Monday night local time. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175mph (280km/h) and was moving north-west at 2mph (4km/h), the US National Hurricane Centre said.At category 5 – the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale – Melissa would be the strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica directly.Parts of eastern Jamaica could see up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, the centre said, citing the likelihood of “catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides”.Mandatory evacuations were ordered in flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter, although some people insisted on staying. Jamaican government officials said they were worried that fewer than 1,000 people were in the more than 130 shelters open across the island.Melissa has been blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean as it headed towards Jamaica.In eastern Cuba, a hurricane warning was in effect for the Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 20 inches (51cm) of rain was forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.Cuban officials said they would evacuate more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island’s second-largest city. Long bus lines formed in some areas.
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