Category 4 Hurricane Melissa threatens catastrophic flooding in Jamaica and Haiti

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa was sustaining Category 4 strength late Sunday and may get stronger while threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica.

Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica early Tuesday then cross Cuba into the southeastern Bahamas through Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

“Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.”

Melissa was centered about 125 miles (205 kilometers) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 310 miles (495 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday night.

It had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said. It could reach Category 5 strength Monday with winds greater than 157 mph (250 kph).

Melissa was expected to drop up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1 meter) of rain.

It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.

Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.

The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, and Holguin. It also sent a tropical storm warning to the province of Las Tunas.

Jamaica's two main airports, the Norman Manley International Airport and the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, were closed.

Residents were ordered to evacuate the seaside community of Old Harbour Bay in the southern parish of St Catherine on Sunday. Officials said at a press conference they were contemplating enforcement because many residents in flood-prone and low-lying communities were not heeding the advice to seek safer alternative locations.

Desmond McKenzie, who is leading the Jamaican government’s disaster response, said all the more than 650 shelters in Jamaica are open.

Officials said earlier that warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.

Evan Thompson, the principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, said the storm surge is expected mainly over the southern side of the island.

“There is potential (for) flooding in every parish of our country," Thompson said. “If you’re in a flood-prone, low-lying area, you need to take note. If you’re near a river course or a gully, you need to take special note and find some alternative location that you can move to should you be threatened by the heavy rainfall.”

The U.S. center said storm surge heights could peak at 13 feet (4 meters) above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall.

Some foreign governments are also preparing for the hurricane's arrival in Jamaica.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda is housing visiting students at a hotel in Kingston. As of Sunday morning, 52 of them had checked in.

“They have a better bounce back regimen here (at the hotel) in terms of standby power and water (in comparison with university dorms," said Jewel Moore, 19, a chemistry student at UWI Mona. She and her fellow students are enjoying snacks and games before the hurricane arrives.

“The passing of the storm should be okay," she added. "It’s getting out that will be a problem.”

The slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.

Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.

The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.

The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.

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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. AP writer Anika Kentish contributed to this report from St. John’s Antigua.