Tropical Storm Melissa stationary in Caribbean
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Hurricane Melissa is edging toward Jamaica and is set to make landfall as a historic Category 5 storm, with winds of more than 170 mph. Jamaica is bracing for what the National Hurricane Center said would be catastrophic flash flooding and landslides caused by up to 40 inches of rain in some places. The storm is due to make landfall early tomorrow.
Melissa is not expected to make landfall in Florida or the U.S. The powerful storm is expected to make landfall on the island nation of Jamaica Tuesday morning. At 8 p.m., Melissa has maximum sustained winds of 175 mph and gusts of well over 200 mph. Melissa is a dangerously powerful Category 5 hurricane.
According to the National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 55 miles south-southeast of Negril Jamaica and 265 miles southwest of Guantanamo Cuba. With maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, the hurricane is moving to the north-northeast at 7 mph.
Haiti is expected to see catastrophic flash floods and landslides early next week causing “extensive infrastructural damage and potentially prolonged isolation of communities.” The southwestern peninsula of Haiti, from the border of the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince, was placed under a hurricane watch and a tropical-storm warning.
Hurricane Melissa is moving extremely slowly through the Caribbean Sea, where it is expected to have catastrophic impacts on Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba in the coming days. You can track it all with the maps below,