Jamaican officials caution the general public to get shelter as the devastating hurricane Melissa Bears down on Island. Hours before the storm, government revealed it had done everything in its power to prepare and protect it's citizens against the catastrophic damages, expecting a storm surge of up to four meters across southern Jamaica.
Health minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, hoping that would suffice for any surge that would take place.
Andrew Holness, the prime minister told CNN that the western end of the country faced the worst destruction. “I don’t believe there is any infrastructure within this region that could withstand a category 5 storm, so there could be significant dislocation,” he said.
Numerous power outages, fallen trees, landslides, and floods have been reported, with officials fearing more damage yet to come.
The US National Hurricane Centre warned on social media that Melissa is “expected to bring catastrophic and life-threatening winds, flooding and storm surge” to Jamaica on Tuesday.
The hurricane started as a cluster of thunderstorms off the coast of west Africa and travelled west, reaching tropical status to the North of Venezuela about a week ago. Melissa intensified over the weekend to category 4, reaching category 5 intensity on Monday morning, with wind speeds of 160mph.
