Hurricane tracker reveals Melissa’s path as strongest storm in history moves in on Jamaica and sparks US coastal threats
Hurricane Melissa is on track to deliver a historic and devastating Category 5 blow to Jamaica on Tuesday, bringing life-threatening flash floods, landslides and devastating winds.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents: ‘Stay sheltered! ‘Failure to act may result in serious injury or death.’
Melissa’s intensity may fluctuate this morning due to internal processes such as 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 expected to pass parts of the Bahamas as a strong hurricane on Wednesday.
The storm is currently moving north-northeast at approximately 4 mph and is expected to accelerate over the next few days as it moves ahead of a strengthening trough over the southeastern United States.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a warning of hazardous conditions for offshore waters along northeast Florida and into the western Atlantic.
While hazardous seas and strong winds are expected offshore, the advisory does not affect the U.S. mainland.
But the NWS warned that rough seas and increased winds in the western Atlantic and offshore will continue through late Friday as Melissa moves over the Atlantic.
This is a developing story… More updates to come.
AccuWeather vice president of forecast operations Dan DePodwin said in a statement: ‘People in Jamaica are facing the most severe hurricane impacts the island has ever experienced in its recorded history.
‘Catastrophic wind speeds combined with the slow forward motion of this storm create a deadly and devastating combination.’
He announced that the towns in front of Melissa’s eyes would be hit It warned that some areas could receive more than 10 feet of rainfall, with wind gusts exceeding 160 miles per hour for several hours.
“The devastation may be unlike anything people in Jamaica have ever seen before,” DePodwin said.
‘The island has never been directly hit by a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane in recorded history.’
The NHC reported early Tuesday that Melissa was about 185 miles from Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, with maximum wind speeds of 175 mph.
