Category 5 Hurricane Melissa set to make landfall in Jamaica

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa is close to making landfall on Jamaica as by far the strongest storm to hit the island since records were first kept 174 years ago.

Melissa is a Category 5 storm with sustained wind speeds of 175 mph (280 kph). It is expected to slice diagonally across the island, entering near St. Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St. Ann parish in the north, before heading for Cuba. A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) is expected across southern Jamaica.

Officials said there was no more preparation they could do and cautioned that the cleanup and damage assessment will be slow. The storm has already been blamed for at least seven deaths in the Caribbean — three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.

Here’s the latest:

Melissa draws closer as Jamaica and Cuba can only wait

On Tuesday morning, Melissa was centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 265 miles (430 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 7 mph (11 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The NHC predicted landfall in Jamaica in the next few hours and said it would issue a special update at that time.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps advisor based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities.

Melissa also is expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday as a powerful hurricane. Cuban officials said Monday that they were evacuating more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island’s second-largest city.

AP Photo/Matias Delacroix