UPDATED 1:27 P.M.
KINGSTON/HAVANA (Reuters) -Hurricane Melissa began lashing Jamaica with violent gusts on Monday as the U.S. National Hurricane Center upgraded it to a Category 5 storm packing sustained winds of 165 mph, the largest on record to slam into the Caribbean island.
Cuba, the eastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos also lie in the expected path of the storm, which will make its way north and east towards Bermuda later this week.
The hurricane is expected to stay well offshore of the United States, bringing only rough surf and minor coastal flooding to the U.S. East Coast.
On Monday at midday (1600 GMT), Melissa was still 145 miles (230 km) southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 330 miles (530 km) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, according to the NHC in Miami.
The hurricane was creeping west at just 3 mph (5 kph), the center said, but would likely make a north-northeastward turn through Jamaica late on Monday and into Tuesday.
The storm’s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, the center’s forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and as much as 3 feet of rain.
“This will result in extensive infrastructural damage, long-lasting power and communication outages, and isolated communities,” the NHC said.
Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have already faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities in those island nations said.
Damian Anderson, a teacher from Hagley Gap, a town nestled in Jamaica’s soaring Blue Mountains, said impassable roads had already cut off his community.
“We can’t move,” Anderson, 47, said. “We’re scared. We’ve never seen a multi-day event like this before.”
Jamaica has seen many large hurricanes in the past, including Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, but a direct hit from a Category 5 would be unprecedented, said Evan Thompson, of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service.
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (250 kph).
CUBA PREPARATIONS
Much of the eastern half of Cuba also battened down ahead of the storm’s expected landfall late on Tuesday.
Cuban authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people living in coastal and mountainous areas vulnerable to heavy winds and flooding.
More than 250,000 people were brought to shelters around Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, which lies square in the crosshairs of the hurricane’s predicted path.
On Monday, authorities cancelled schools, buses and trains until further notice across eastern Cuba ahead of the storm’s arrival.
The hurricane was not expected to directly impact the capital Havana.
(Reporting by Zahra Burton in Kingston and Dave Sherwood in Havana; writing by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Nia Williams)
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KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) –Hurricane Melissa has developed into a Category 4 hurricane heading towards Jamaica and Cuba and is expected to bring catastrophic floods, landslides and storm surges to the region, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Sunday.
Melissa has maximum sustained winds of up to 140 mph and is expected to strengthen as it heads towards Jamaica, where it should make landfall Monday night or Tuesday morning. It is likely to hit southeastern Cuba late Tuesday.
In Jamaica, authorities have implored residents to evacuate to nearly 900 shelters around the country, providing assistance to those wanting to leave. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued mandatory evacuation orders for Port Royal in Kingston and six other areas.
“Many of these communities will not survive this flooding,” Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government, said at a press conference earlier in the day. “Kingston is low, extremely low … No community in Kingston is immune from flooding.”
Both international airports were closed.
Earlier on Sunday, some residents were choosing to stay put, and authorities said some have refused to board evacuation buses.
“We are riding out the storm, we’re not going to go anywhere. Just sitting down and watch everything, make sure everything’s working good,” said Douglas Butler, a local boat captain in Port Royal. “I just take things easy. As long as I have my food, I can eat. That is the most important thing.”
The NHC said Melissa is expected to bring 15 to 30 inches of rain to Jamaica and southern Hispaniola with a local maximum of up to 40 inches. Eastern Cuba is expected to receive 10 to 15 inches, with local amounts of up to 20 inches.
Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s information minister, said the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency is ready to provide assistance, and several international partners have already pledged support.
“We’ve heard the rainfall numbers. They’re numbers we’ve never heard before,” Morris Dixon said.
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur and Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru, Zahra Burton and Maria Alejandra Cardona in Kingston; Writing by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Leslie Adler and Edwina Gibbs)
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