Hurricane Melissa continued its deadly march through the Caribbean Oct. 29 after making a catastrophic Category 5 landfall in Jamaica the day before, where it left more than half a million homes without power.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm first made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, on Oct. 28 with sustained winds of 185 mph. Jamaica’s prime minister declared a national disaster and communication lines collapsed across much of the island and widespread destruction left entire neighborhoods in ruin, ABC News reported.
Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s education minister, said in a press conference that 77% of the island was still without power on Oct. 29. More than 25,000 people in Jamaica are crowded into shelters, according to Newsweek.
Early Oct. 29, Melissa struck southeastern Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane, coming ashore near Chivirco around 3 a.m. EDT with sustained winds near 120 mph. The National Hurricane Center warned of rainfall totals up to 25 inches and storm surges as high as 12 feet across eastern Cuba. Area officials ordered mass evacuations.
The hurricane also triggered deadly flooding in Haiti, where a river in Petit-Goâve overflowed and killed at least 25 people.
One person in the Dominican Republic was killed, and three others in Jamaica died during storm preparations, CNN reported.
Forecasters warned that hurricane-force winds and dangerous flooding will reach the southern Bahamas overnight Oct. 29, bringing up to 10 inches of rain and a storm surge of 5 to 8 feet. Melissa is expected to pass near Bermuda late Oct. 30 before curving east into the Atlantic Ocean.
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