‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Melissa hours from landfall in Jamaica

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Millions in Jamaica and across the Caribbean are bracing for massive impact from Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday as the UN and partners warn of a “severe” and “immediate” threat.

Briefing reporters hours before Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica,  a representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that the category 5 system “will be the strongest on the planet this year” putting a million people at direct risk, “including families which are still recovering from Hurricane Beryl” which hit the island nation only 16 months ago.  

“Roofs will be tested. Flood water will rise. Isolation will become a harsh reality for many,” said Necephor Mghendi, the IFRC’s Head of Delegation for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.

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‘Total structural failure’

 “Total structural failure is likely,” said Anne-Claire Fontan, a tropical cyclone specialist with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), quoting the United States National Hurricane Center in Miami.  

“I have never seen this sentence before… it’s a massive impact that is expected to be in Jamaica,” she said.

Sustained winds of 280 kilometres per hour have been reported as the system makes its way westward towards Jamaica on Tuesday morning. Heavy rains continue in the region, with deaths already reported in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.

Ms. Fontan explained that the system will bring three times the normal amount of precipitation for a rainy month in Jamaica, or up to 700 millimeters (27.5 inches).

Catastrophic flash flooding, landslides

“It means that there will be a catastrophic flash floodings and numerous landslides,” she explained. “In addition to the rain and to the destructive wind, you will have storm surge that is expected as well on the southern coast of Jamaica with a three to four meters high in addition to destructive waves.”

Speaking from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago the IFRC’s Mr. Mghendi said that while Melissa is moving as a very slow speed – approximately six kilometres per hour – the “extreme” rainfall and winds are expected to cause “extensive infrastructure damage, isolating communities and cutting off essential services for days if not weeks”.  

“The humanitarian threat is severe and it’s immediate,” he said.

Many families are currently still rebuilding from the impacts of Beryl last year and restoring their livelihoods.  

Rebuilding from Beryl, wiped out

“Melissa now threatens the same communities and maybe all the activities will be wiped out,” he warned. “This is an example of how… extreme climate weather events can actually provide shocks to communities and stretch the capacities to withstand them,” he explained.

The IFRC official went on to stress that coastal communities remain financially strained, and informal settlements are at risk from intense winds as well as soils that are already saturated by the rainy season, with an “increased likelihood of landslides”.

“The first order of business is to save as many lives as possible in the event,” said Jens Laerke, the spokesperson for UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), explaining that this is “why we’re seeing evacuations going on, shelters being built… advice is going out.”

The IFRC’s Mr. Mghendi said that in Jamaica the authorities have prepared some 800 shelters and that volunteers are supporting evacuations, helping distribute relief items and reinforcing early warning messages.

Extensive preparation by UN agencies

OCHA spokesperson Mr. Laerke added that an anticipatory mechanism facilitated by the UN has been activated in Cuba and Haiti which lie on the hurricane’s path, triggering a $4 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to pre-position food, water, hygiene items and health supplies.

“What are going to be people’s basic survival needs? Food, clean water… shelter and of course medical care,” he said, explaining that when massive flooding hits, clean water is in short supply, driving a surge in health and epidemic risks.  

Asked about the availability of relief items the IFRC’s Mr. Mghendi said that within Jamaica itself enough supplies had been prepositioned to provide immediate assistance to some 800 households. Beyond this, supplies for 60,000 households can be delivered to Jamaica and other countries like the Bahamas “within four hours”, he said.

World must ‘come together’

“After we release them, there will be a need to replenish and that’s where we’re hoping for global solidarity,” Mr. Mghendi insisted.  

“In events like this, the world comes together and we anticipate this will be the case. This is one of the storms of the century and I believe the global community will come together to respond collectively,” he concluded.