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The hurricane Melissa continues its devastating advance through the Caribbean after sweeping through Jamaica on Tuesday with winds of 260 kilometers per hour and torrential rains.
The authorities warned that the situation on the island is "extremely dangerous" and urged the population not to leave their shelters.
According to the latest report issued at 3:00 PM (Miami time) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Melissa was located over the northwest of Jamaica, generating catastrophic winds, high surf, and flooding across much of the area.
The advisory urged residents to stay in their shelters, warning that the winds would intensify after the eye of the hurricane passed.
Hurricane Melissa is causing catastrophic winds, flash floods, and dangerous storm surges in Jamaica. Do not leave your shelters. This is an extremely dangerous and potentially deadly situation,” the report stated.
The report added that the central pressure of the cyclone dropped to 906 millibars, with sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), keeping Melissa as a category 5 hurricane, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
In a previous bulletin, published at 2:00 p.m., the National Hurricane Center (NHC) had already described Melissa as an “extremely dangerous hurricane” crossing the west of Jamaica with winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 899 millibars.
The report detailed that the system was moving north-northeast at 13 km/h and that, after crossing the island, it is expected to impact the eastern part of Cuba during the early hours of Wednesday.
Melissa covers a wide area of the Caribbean, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45 kilometers from the center and tropical gusts reaching as far as 315 kilometers around.
The phenomenon also causes waves between 9 and 13 feet (up to 4 meters) along the southern coast of Jamaica and could generate swells of 8 to 12 feet along the southeast coast of Cuba.
The anticipated rainfall accumulations are equally severe: between 25 and 30 inches (over 700 millimeters) in Jamaica, and from 250 to 500 millimeters for eastern Cuba, which heightens the risk of catastrophic flooding and landslides.
The Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguín, and Las Tunas remain under hurricane alert, while Camagüey, Haiti, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands are under a tropical storm warning.
The independent global weather viewing platform Windy estimated this Tuesday that the hurricane Melissa will make landfall in the Uvero–Chivirico area, in Santiago de Cuba, during the early hours of Wednesday, with maximum winds near 222 kilometers per hour.
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