Storm Melissa reaches hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in northern Caribbean

KINGSTON Jamaica AP U S forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as Storm Melissa reached hurricane strength threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean A hurricane warning means winds of at least mph kph are expected in the area within hours Melissa is likely starting to rapidly intensify and expected to become a major hurricane the coming day the U S National Hurricane Center announced Saturday afternoon as Melissa had maximum sustained winds of mph kph The slow-moving storm was expected to drop torrential rain up to inches centimeters on Jamaica according to the U S National Hurricane Center A similar forecast was issued for the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through Monday Life-threatening flooding and landslides were accomplishable with up to inches centimeters of catastrophic rain across the Tiburon peninsula in southwestern Haiti the center announced The Cuban governing body on Saturday afternoon issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma Santiago de Cuba Guantanamo and Holguin Storm s slow progress The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic where another person remains missing Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm it is increasingly dire Jamie Rhome the center s deputy director announced earlier on Saturday He stated the storm will continue to move slowly for up to four days Melissa was located about miles kilometers southeast of Kingston Jamaica and about miles kilometers west-southwest of Port-au-Prince Haiti It was slowly moving westward at mph kph according to the hurricane center A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch remained in place for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti The center of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica early next week forecasters noted Melissa was expected to become a major hurricane by Sunday and possibly reach Category status by early Monday U S forecasters explained It is forecast to hit eastern Cuba early Wednesday where up to inches centimeters could fall in a few areas Administration in Jamaica announced on Saturday that the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston will be closed at p m local time It did not say whether it will close the Sangster airport in Montego Bay on the western side of the island More than shelters were activated in Jamaica Personnel mentioned warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously mentioned Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness Take all measures to protect yourself The hurricane center verified the risks in a key message Saturday afternoon Jamaica prep should be completed this day Melissa s slow motion brings multi-day damaging winds plus heavy rainfall catastrophic flash flooding landslides damage long-duration power communication outages isolation the center disclosed River levels rise Haitian government disclosed 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 The storm is causing a lot of concern with the way it s moving announced Ronald D lice a Haitian department director of civil protection as local personnel organized lines to distribute food kits A great number of residents are still reluctant to leave their homes The storm has damaged nearly 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 commented Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week Melissa is the th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season which runs from June to Nov The U S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with to named storms