IRISH FAMILY BRACED FOR IMPACT

'Anxious&fearful night At least 7 in the path of storm eyewall dead in Caribbean

- BY NICOLA DONNELLY

HURRICANE Melissa unleashed the "Storm of a Century" on Jamaica, with deadly 295kph winds, floods and landslides ripping through the sunshine island.

The monstrous Category 5 storm which ties a record for the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic making landfall - claimed at least seven lives, destroyed homes and left communities cut off from the outside world.

An Irish family who made the island their home a decade ago are "anxious and fearful" as they prepare for one of the most destructive storms there in decades, Dubliners Orlagh Kilbride, 45, husband Neil O'Hanlon, 50, and two of their three sons Max, 16, and 12-year-old Blake are living in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica on the southeastern coast.

Orlagh fears for her family's safety and for their new home in Treasure Beach, which now sits directly in the path of the storm's eyewall.

She told the Irish Daily Star: "We've been in Jamaica nearly 10 years. We came over for my husband's work with our three sons, and it's home now.

"But right now, it's frightening. The eyewall is closing in on Treasure Beach, and it's expected to make landfall very soon." Orlagh said last night winds were already picking up,while video footage from Treasure Beach shows rising surf and debris flying through the streets.

She added: "It's looking pretty awful down there at the moment.

"We've boarded up the new house, but we're preparing for damage. And we won't know how much damage will be caused until possibly Friday."

DESTRUCTION