Video From A Plane Inside Hurricane Melissa Confirms You Don’t Want To Be There

Footage from a US Air Force weather reconnaissance flight flying past the eye of Hurricane Melissa confirms you probably don’t want to be there.

The U.S. Department of Defense released the video after it made multiple passes through the Category 5 storm on Monday to collect weather data for the National Hurricane Center.

(Watch the video in the player above.)

Hurricane Melissa will be the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica since records began 174 years ago.

The record-breaking storm was expected to reach the southwestern part of the island on Tuesday morning and was likely to be followed by flooding.

Parts of Jamaica could see 15 to 30 inches of rainfall. accordingly Sustained winds over 200 mph, the National Weather Service added.

About 240,000 Jamaicans – roughly 35% of the people on the island – were already without power before the storm arrived, Jamaican Minister of Energy and Transport Daryl Vaz told reporters on Tuesday.

Jamaica faces a “catastrophic situation” in the coming days, World Meteorological Organization tropical cyclone expert Anne-Claire Fontan told reporters.

“It will definitely be the storm of the century for Jamaica,” Fontan said.