Hurricane tracker reveals Melissa’s ‘catastrophic path’,
Hurricane Melissa is on track to deliver a historic and catastrophic Category 5 strike on Jamaica on Tuesday, bringing life-threatening flash floods, landslides and destructive winds.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents and touraists: ‘Remain sheltered! Failure to act may result in serious injury or loss of life.’
Melissa’s intensity could fluctuate this morning due to internal processes like eyewall replacement cycles. Regardless, the storm is expected to hit Jamaica as an extremely dangerous major hurricane within the next 12 hours.
While interaction with Jamaica and eastern Cuba may cause some weakening, Melissa is still forecast to move over portions of the Bahamas as a strong hurricane on Wednesday.
The storm is currently moving north-northeast at about 4 mph and is expected to accelerate over the next few days as it tracks ahead of a strengthening trough over the southeastern US
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a hazardous conditions advisory for offshore waters along northeastern Florida and into the western Atlantic.
While dangerous seas and strong winds are expected at sea, the advisory does not affect the US mainland.
However, the NWS warned that rough seas and increasing winds over the western Atlantic and offshore waters will persist through late Friday due to Melissa moving over the Atlantic.
This is a developing story… More updates to come.
AccuWeather vice president of forecasting operations Dan DePodwin said in a statement: ‘People across Jamaica are facing the most extreme hurricane impacts the island has ever experienced in recorded history.
‘The catastrophic wind speeds combined with the slow forward motion of this storm are a deadly and destructive combination.’
He explained that towns in the path of Melissa’s eye will be hit with wind gusts above 160mph for several hours, and warned that some areas could get more than three feet of rainfall.
‘The destruction could be unlike anything people in Jamaica have seen before,’ DePodwin said.
‘The island has never taken a direct hit from a Category 4 or a Category 5 hurricane in recorded history.’
The NHC reported on early Tuesday that Melissa was about 115 miles from Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, and reaching a maximum wind speed of 175mph.
The agency also warned of ‘catastrophic’ winds and flash flooding on the island on Tuesday that could cause lengthy power and communications outages, along with ‘extensive infrastructural damage.’
Up to 40 inches of rainfall is forecast, with flash flooding and landslides also expected in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
A ‘life-threatening’ storm surge is likely along Jamaica’s southern coast, with waters potentially rising 13 feet, along with ‘destructive waves,’ the NHC said.
