Hurricane Melissa grew into a major Category 4 storm early Sunday morning, effectively jumping three levels in roughly 24 hours. Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides are expected to hit Jamaica and the southern reaches of Hispaniola through the middle of the week.
Expected to get ‘much worse’
In a post to X Sunday morning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Hurricane Melissa had intensified to a Category 4, with sustained winds of 140 mph.
The agency noted that conditions in Jamaica are expected to get “much worse” through Tuesday. The southern reaches of Hispaniola, which include Haiti and the Dominican Republic, are also expected to see intensifying flooding over the coming days.
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Tropical Storm Melissa, which had been churning over Haiti since the middle of the week, officially became a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday morning, after its wind speeds topped 75 mph. The NHC now believes the hurricane could reach Category 5 by Sunday night.
Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as eastern Cuba, the southeast Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos, are all in Melissa’s path. Already, three people have died in Haiti, including two who were killed in a landslide in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Five more people were injured when a wall collapsed. Another person was also killed in the Dominican Republic.
“Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm, it is increasingly dire,” NHC Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said Saturday.
Damaged homes, isolated communities
According to reports, what makes Melissa uniquely dangerous is its glacial pace, meaning affected areas will be subject to its wrath for days. Jamaica is expected to experience the worst of it, with rainfall of 15 to 25 inches predicted by Tuesday.
On Saturday evening, Jamaica closed its international airport in the capital of Kingston and opened more than 650 shelters. Meanwhile, in Haiti, some 200 homes have been destroyed, and a water supply system was knocked offline. According to The Associated Press, flooding has left more than two dozen communities isolated.
In its advisory on Sunday, the NHC reported that the strongest winds are expected to hit Jamaica on Monday, adding, “Extensive infrastructural damage, long-duration power and communication outages, and isolation of communities are expected. Life-threatening storm surge is likely along portions of the southern coast Monday night and Tuesday morning.”
In Haiti, the life-threatening flash floods will persist through midweek, leaving additional communities at risk of isolation.
Potential ‘humanitarian crisis’
AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Duffus said earlier this week that Melissa has the potential to create a “humanitarian crisis.”
“Melissa’s slow movement over the mountainous islands greatly increases the risk of catastrophic flash flooding and deadly mudslides,” Duffus said. “This can quickly escalate into a humanitarian crisis, where a large number of people are in need of basic supplies such as food, safe drinking water, housing and medical care.”
In Kingston, a power plant, airport, shipping port, fuel terminal and water treatment plant are all at risk. “We have not had this experience before,” Evan Thompson of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service told reporters Saturday. “It’s important for us to consider this as an extraordinary situation.”
Melissa is currently not expected to hit the U.S., though it could bring stormy conditions and rough surf to the East Coast next week.
