Hurricane season can be stressful for anyone near the potential path of a storm. Powerful winds and heavy rain can cause widespread damage, cut power for days or weeks, and otherwise upend lives. But stress can be reduced when people have a plan, emergency management officials say.
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters said it would unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage. It would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.
Melissa, blamed for six deaths in the northern Caribbean as it headed toward the island, was on track to make landfall Tuesday in Jamaica before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. It was not expected to affect the United States.
Hanna Mcleod, a 23-year-old hotel receptionist in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, said she boarded up the windows at her home, where her husband and brother are staying. She stocked up on canned corned beef and mackerel and left candles and flashlights throughout the house.
“I just told them to keep the door closed,” she said. “I am definitely worried. This is actually the first time I’ll be experiencing this type of hurricane.”
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (250 kph). Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to directly hit the small Caribbean nation, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
A storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) was expected along the coast in Kingston, which Porter said is home to critical infrastructure such as Jamaica’s main international airport and power plants.
“This can become a true humanitarian crisis very quickly, and there is likely going to be the need for a lot of international support,” Porter said in a phone interview.
On Monday morning, Melissa was centered about 145 miles (230 kilometers) southwest of Kingston and about 330 miles (530 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
