Hurricane Melissa Strengthens Into Category 5

Hurricane Melissa rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm early Monday, the most powerful level on the hurricane scale, as it bore down on Jamaica with forecasts of devastating floods, landslides and destructive winds. The storm, churning slowly through the warm waters of the Caribbean, was expected to make landfall on the island within hours, prompting mandatory evacuations and urgent warnings from officials across the region.

As of 5 a.m. Eastern time, Melissa’s maximum sustained winds had reached 160 miles per hour, with gusts measured at up to 175 m.p.h. by Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft flying into its core. The storm’s center was about 130 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, moving westward at roughly 5 m.p.h., a pace that forecasters said would prolong the deluge of rain and heighten the risk of catastrophic flooding.

“This is a generational storm, prepare or perish,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica said in a televised address late Sunday, urging residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to seek higher ground immediately. Schools, ports and businesses across the island were shuttered, and mandatory evacuations were ordered in vulnerable neighborhoods, including parts of Kingston. Sandbags lined streets in coastal towns, and fishermen secured their boats amid rising swells.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a hurricane warning for all of Jamaica, with tropical storm warnings in effect for much of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Hurricane watches covered the Cayman Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, where officials braced for similar threats. In Haiti, already battered by recent unrest and poverty, at least three people were reported dead and five injured from flooding caused by Melissa’s outer bands, with more rain expected to exacerbate the crisis.

Forecasters predicted up to 20 inches of rain in Jamaica’s mountainous interior, triggering life-threatening flash floods and landslides that could isolate communities and destroy roads and bridges. Storm surges of 15 to 20 feet were possible along southern coasts, while hurricane-force winds extending 60 miles from the center threatened to topple power lines and uproot trees, potentially leaving the island without electricity for days or weeks.

Evan Thompson, director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, warned that the storm’s slow movement, a result of weak steering winds in the region, would exacerbate the impacts, allowing rain to pile up over several days. “Do not venture out of your safe shelter,” he said in a briefing. “Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely today through Tuesday.”

After crossing Jamaica, possibly as an upper-end Category 4 or even retaining Category 5 strength, the storm is forecast to move into the Cayman Islands on Tuesday, then strike eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Parts of southeastern Cuba, including Guantánamo province, are under hurricane warnings. The storm is then expected to curve northward toward the Bahamas by midweek, though its path beyond five days remains uncertain, with some models suggesting a potential turn toward the U.S. East Coast, bringing risks of heavy rain and coastal flooding to Florida and the Southeast.

In the Bahamas, where Hurricane Dorian caused widespread devastation in 2019, officials echoed calls for preparation. “We’ve been here before, but this one feels different,” said Marvin Burrows, a government spokesman in Nassau. The government has issued a hurricane watch for the southeastern islands and is distributing supplies to remote communities.

International aid groups, including the Red Cross and United Nations agencies, were mobilizing resources Sunday, airlifting food, water and medical supplies to Jamaica and Haiti. The United States, through its Federal Emergency Management Agency and State Department, offered logistical support, including potential evacuation assistance for American citizens in the region.

Satellite imagery early Monday showed Melissa’s eye, a calm, 10-mile-wide center surrounded by a raging eyewall of towering thunderstorms, as a stark symbol of the storm’s power. Cloud tops in the surrounding convection plunged to minus 86 degrees Celsius, indicating intense updrafts. “This is one of the most dangerous storms we’ve tracked in years,” said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane specialist at Colorado State University. “The combination of its intensity and slow speed is a recipe for disaster.”

Residents in Kingston described a tense wait under overcast skies. “We’ve boarded up what we can, but the rain’s already starting,” said Maria Ellis, a shopkeeper in the city’s waterfront district, where waves were crashing higher against seawalls. In rural areas, families huddled in community shelters, sharing stories of past storms while monitoring radio updates.

As Melissa advances, meteorologists urged those in its path to heed evacuation orders and avoid underestimating the storm’s reach. “Even if you’re not in the center, the rain and surge don’t discriminate,” said Jane Kleindienst, a forecaster at the hurricane center. For now, the focus remains on saving lives in the Caribbean, where the storm’s legacy could be measured not just in wind speeds, but in the resilience of communities tested once again by nature’s fury.