Hurricane Melissa: a visual guide to the strongest storm to hit Jamaica in almost two centuries | Hurricane Melissa
Hurricane Melissa is nearing impact on Jamaica as the strongest Category 5 storm to hit the island since records began in 1851.
The slow-moving giant will make landfall on Tuesday afternoon local time and linger over the island, moving diagonally and hitting Cuba, with impacts expected in Haiti and the Bahamas.
How severe is the storm?
Melissa is particularly dangerous as it intensifies extremely quickly and moves at the slow pace of a running human, meaning it will hang over Jamaica for longer, increasing damage.
The storm’s winds increased from 70 mph to 145 mph in just one day; this is one of the fastest recorded intensities in the Atlantic Ocean.
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds exceeding 157mph.
This system is even worse, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (280 km/h). It is moving north-northeast at 7 miles per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
How prepared is Jamaica for such a storm?
Forecasters warn that Jamaica faces devastating flooding and numerous landslides. Airports were closed and highway tolls were abolished so that anyone who needed to be evacuated could move as easily and quickly as possible.
The small country has limited resources and is still repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl, which caused historic levels of destruction last year.
“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”
A life-threatening storm surge of up to 4 meters (13 ft) is expected in southern Jamaica, and authorities fear damage to coastline hospitals.
What happens next can have significant effects in the future; Jamaica derives approximately one-third of its annual income from tourism.
How are people sheltered?
Tens of thousands of Jamaica’s 2.8 million population could be displaced. There are 850 shelters on the island, enough for more than 20,000 people, Holness said.
But Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps consultant near Kingston, said most families decided to shelter in place even though the government ordered evacuations in flood-prone communities.
“Many people have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is scary,” he said. “There is a deep-seated fear of losing their homes and livelihoods, of being injured, and of being displaced.”
What is the impact of the climate crisis?
The extraordinary intensification of Hurricane Melissa will likely be a symptom of the rapid warming of the world’s oceans.
Melissa became the fourth storm in the Atlantic this year to rapidly intensify in wind speed and strength. Such concentration is linked to the human-caused climate crisis that is causing the oceans to warm further.
Researchers at Climate Central, a nonprofit organization that analyzes climate science, found that during Melissa’s rapid intensification, the storm drifted over exceptionally warm ocean waters that were 1.4 degrees warmer than average. The organization said these conditions are 700 times more likely due to the climate crisis.
Last year the world’s oceans hottest on recordRecord-breaking sea temperature continues its trend.
