🔗 Share this article

Hurricane Melissa is forecast to strengthen into a uncommon category five hurricane as it shifts in the direction of the Caribbean island, delivering deadly flash flooding and rock falls.

This weather system, which registered wind speeds of up to 120 miles per hour as of 0600 Greenwich Mean Time, is currently turning northwest in the Caribbean and is anticipated to make landfall by Tuesday, as reported by hurricane specialists.

Warnings of power cuts and disruption to utilities have been issued as Melissa generates up to 76cm of rain and coastal flooding as high as thirteen feet above normal levels. "Take cover without delay," residents have been urged.

This hurricane is the 13th hurricane in the current Atlantic hurricane season, which typically ends in November.

Category Five Hurricane Danger

A highest-level hurricane is the most intense classification, with wind speeds of at least 157mph.

Even though Melissa is projected to diminish in strength to a fourth-level cyclone before making landfall on the island, experts said there was "very little practical difference in the general consequences" upon making contact with land, and that the hurricane will be "at least that intensity" when it strikes the island.

Immediate Preparations

With tropical storm-strength gusts and precipitation already expected long before it passes over central Jamaica - including potentially the city of Kingston - warnings emphasize that "safety measures need to be finalized quickly".

"A multi-day period of damaging winds and intense precipitation have begun and will cause severe and deadly sudden floods and many rock slides," counseled weather authorities.

The nation's leader Andrew Holness stated: "I understand that there are numerous residents who are concerned, who are deeply troubled, and rightfully so: concern is justified.

"Yet the best way to address nervousness and any nervousness and worry is to be prepared."

Inhabitants are being instructed to secure their homes with sandbags and wooden boards, and to gather essentials.

Broader Impact

Advisories are also ongoing for regions of Haiti encompassing the main city, Port au Prince, the Dominican Republic and Cuba's eastern region, where this storm is projected to bring similar effects by the midweek period.

Rock slides currently triggered by the storm have caused two deaths in Haiti, according to local authorities.

Projected Trajectory

The hurricane is predicted to move across the island nation by midweek before passing across the Antillas Mayores and out into the Atlantic.

By the moment it makes contact with Cuba, it is anticipated to have reduced to a Category 3 storm.

Climate Connection

Even though it is challenging to associate specific storms to global warming, researchers say it is making climate patterns more prevalent and more intense.

Higher ocean heat create more moisture in the atmosphere, helping fuel the creation of storms.

Before the start of the current Atlantic storm period, weather organizations predicted above-normal activity, citing warmer seas and potential more intense weather patterns around the western African continent - where tropical systems frequently develop.