\n Melissa is expected to continue to rapidly intensify Sunday, ramping up its destructive wind and storm surge threats alongside the intense rain as it tracks near or south of Jamaica through early next week. Landfall as a Category 4 hurricane is expected, but a Category 5 landfall cannot be ruled out and Melissa could be the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in Jamaica.\n <\/p>\n
\n This explosive strengthening is happening more often<\/a> as the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution. Three of the four Atlantic hurricanes this season underwent extreme rapid intensification<\/a>: Erin<\/a>, Gabrielle<\/a> and Humberto<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Jamaica, Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic will face the worst of the storm into at least early next week. Next in line for strong winds, storm surge and flooding rain will be eastern Cuba, the southern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.\n <\/p>\n \n Rainfall totals up to 40 inches are expected from Melissa in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Tuesday, with local maxima of 40 inches. Eastern Cuba could receive totals of up to 18 inches.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cExtensive damage to roads and buildings is expected, potentially isolating communities for an extended period of time,\u201d in Haiti on Saturday, the hurricane center warned. \u201cThis is a life-threatening situation and immediate preparations to protect life and property should be taken.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Jamaica will not only endure Melissa\u2019s torrential rain, but will also have to contend with days of ferocious winds. The most extreme winds will likely occur as Melissa tracks near Jamaica on Monday into Tuesday. Downed trees, power outages and structural damage could be widespread.\n <\/p>\n \n Officials in the country are already preparing for the worst. All public hospitals have been in \u201cemergency mode\u201d since Thursday evening, halting outpatient and elective procedures to ensure more beds are open, according to Christopher Tufton<\/a>, Jamaica\u2019s Minister of Health and Wellness.\n <\/p>\n \n Jamaica\u2019s airports are closing. Norman Manley International Airport closed after its last scheduled arriving flight at 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) Saturday evening, according to Daryl Vaz, the minister of transport. The Sangster International Airport<\/a> plans to close at noon on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,\u201d Evan Thompson, the principal director of Jamaica\u2019s Meteorological Service, said Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s going to sit there, pouring water while it\u2019s barely moving and that is a significant challenge\u2026 as long as what is predicted does take place.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Peak storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall. Storm surge will also be accompanied by large and destructive waves.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cNow is the time to secure your home, check your roof, windows, and surroundings. Use sandbags or plywood where needed and clear any overhanging branches safely,\u201d Holness, the prime minister, wrote on X. \u201cIf you live in a flood-prone area, take protective measures and have an evacuation plan ready\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Jamaicans who spoke with Reuters on Saturday acknowledged the danger of a slow-moving hurricane, contrasting Melissa\u2019s sluggish pace to Hurricane Beryl.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSlow movement still cause a lot of damage, right?\u201d said fisherman Clive Davis in Kingston. \u201cDifferent from Beryl cause Beryls come with a speed and never stay too long. Just sweep through. But this now, she wants to come stay, visit Jamaica for 3 days, why?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s gonna slow down business, but it\u2019s nature,\u201d Davis added. \u201cWe can\u2019t fight against nature, right?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Into Saturday, workers in Kingston dredged as much trash and silt as they could from the bottom of Sandy Gully, an approximately 20 km long waterway snaking along the city\u2019s western flank. When Melissa brings its months\u2019 worth of rain as it passes over Jamaica, the swollen, debris-filled gully could knock out bridges, splitting Kingston in two.\n <\/p>\n \n The United States mainland is not expected to be directly threatened by Melissa. Even so, rough surf and rip currents could spread along the US East Coast next week.\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s barely moving. When a storm crawls, rainfall piles up over the same towns for days. A similar setup produced catastrophic floods in 2017 with Hurricane Harvey<\/a>, which dumped over four feet of rain on parts of Texas, and in 2019 with Hurricane Dorian<\/a>, which dropped nearly two feet of rain in the Bahamas and over a foot in parts of South Carolina.<\/p>\n Mountains magnify the flood threat. Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic\u2019s steep terrain will force air upward, wringing out more moisture from the storm, just like squeezing a wet sponge, turning tropical humidity into torrents racing downhill. Mudslides are all but guaranteed in this scenario. This happened when Hurricane Helene<\/a> devastated western North Carolina last year.<\/p>\n Heat in the Caribbean Sea runs deep. The Caribbean\u2019s exceptionally-warm water extends far below the surface, preventing the usual \u201cstirring up\u201d of cooler water that can weaken hurricanes. Melissa is expected to feast on that deep reservoir of heat, raising the ceiling on its potential intensity.<\/p>\n![\"AL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/al-storm1-trop-rain-accum-1.png\")
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