{"id":242464,"date":"2025-10-27T01:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242464\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T01:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:28:14","slug":"storm-melissa-reaches-hurricane-strength-threatening-catastrophic-flooding-in-northern-caribbean-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/242464\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm Melissa reaches hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in northern Caribbean – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as\u00a0Storm\u00a0Melissa\u00a0reached hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.<\/p>\n

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A hurricane warning means winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) are expected in the area within 36 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelissa\u00a0has become a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph,\u201d the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Saturday afternoon. \u201cRapid intensification is expected, and\u00a0Melissa\u00a0is forecast to become a major hurricane tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The slow-moving\u00a0storm\u00a0was expected to drop torrential rain, up to 25 inches (64 centimeters), on Jamaica, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.<\/p>\n

A similar forecast was issued for the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through Monday. Life-threatening flooding and landslides were possible, with up to 35 inches (89 centimeters) of catastrophic rain across the Tiburon peninsula in southwestern Haiti, the center said.<\/p>\n

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The erratic and slow-moving\u00a0storm\u00a0has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for places along the projected path of this\u00a0storm, it is increasingly dire,\u201d Jamie Rhome, the center\u2019s deputy director, said earlier on Saturday. He said the\u00a0storm\u00a0will continue to move slowly for up to four days.<\/p>\n

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Melissa\u00a0was located about 145 miles (230 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 235 miles (380 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was slowly moving west-northwest at 1 mph (2 kph), according to the hurricane center.<\/p>\n

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A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch remained in place for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti.<\/p>\n

The center of\u00a0Melissa\u00a0is expected to move near or over Jamaica early next week, forecasters said.\u00a0Melissa\u00a0was expected to become a major hurricane by Sunday and possibly reach Category 4 status by early Monday, U.S. forecasters said. It is forecast to hit eastern Cuba early Wednesday, where up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) could fall in some areas.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Jamaica warned that all airports would close within 24 hours once a hurricane warning was issued. More than 650 shelters were activated. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,\u201d said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. \u201cTake all measures to protect yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The hurricane center confirmed the risks in a key message Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamaica prep should be completed today. Melissa\u2019s slow motion brings multi-day damaging winds plus heavy rainfall, catastrophic flash flooding, landslides, damage, long-duration power communication outages, isolation,\u201d the center said.<\/p>\n

Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0storm\u00a0is causing a lot of concern with the way it\u2019s moving,\u201d said Ronald D\u00e9lice, a Haitian department director of civil protection, as local authorities organized lines to distribute food kits. Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0storm\u00a0has damaged nearly 200 homes in the\u00a0Dominican Republic<\/a>\u00a0and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.<\/p>\n

The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said\u00a0Melissa\u00a0could bring\u00a0tropical\u00a0storm\u00a0or hurricane conditions to islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.<\/p>\n

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Melissa\u00a0is the 13th named\u00a0storm\u00a0of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.<\/p>\n

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as\u00a0Storm\u00a0Melissa\u00a0reached hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,6093,295,23188,66,29399,36694,1133,3275],"class_list":["post-242464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-hurricane","tag-science","tag-storms","tag-un","tag-weather","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}