Jamaicans told to pray as Hurricane Melissa intensifies before impact

Jamaicans began to take shelter from Hurricane Melissa yesterday as high winds toppled trees and caused power cuts ahead of the category 5 storm making landfall today.

- Natricia Duncan Kingston Anthony Lugg Portland

The slow-moving giant, the strongest hurricane to hit the island since records began in 1851, is increasing in intensity and forecast to linger. Authorities fear it will unleash catastrophic flooding and landslides, and damage essential infrastructure.

In the southwestern parish of St Elizabeth, winds were already becoming ferocious, with one tree falling on to electricity poles and knocking out power.

The parish also bore the brunt of Hurricane Beryl, which caused historic levels of destruction in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica last year.

The director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, has warned that no part of the island is likely be spared Melissa’s deadly combination of rapid intensification and snail-paced advance.

“If it continues as projected in terms of the turn toward the island, we should on Tuesday look for the hurricane force winds starting to impact southern coastal areas and then gradually spreading as the system moves closer to the coast,” he said.