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hurricane Melissa has hit Purvi Cuba With devastating winds of up to 120 mph after leaving a trail of destruction Jamaica,
,storm of the centuryis one of the most powerful in atlantic history, and the most powerful hurricane to hit anytime Jamaica,
melissa started as a tropical wave near West Africa, before gaining strength and flow westward To the Caribbean. It hit land after passing over Jamaica Cuba On Wednesday. It is expected to creep across the country with damaging winds and torrential rains before passing through Bermuda and the Bahamas.
The south-eastern and central Bahamas and surrounding areas, including Turks and Caicos, could also face “life-threatening storm surge” and heavy rainfall. National Hurricane Center Said.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is currently 205 miles (335 kilometers) south of the central Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
Red Cross teams are being activated as Melissa continues her trajectory in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Its slow movement makes Melissa deadly, with sustained winds and accumulated rainfall causing maximum damage to vulnerable and low-lying islands. About 70 percent of Jamaica’s population of more than 2.8 million lives in coastal areas.
“Slow-moving major hurricanes are often recorded as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms in history,” said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather. “This is a serious situation that is unfolding slowly.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel ordered mass evacuations across the country and at least 735,000 people were forced to leave their homes to escape the devastation. The National Hurricane Center warned that Melissa would bring “deadly storm surge, flash flooding and mudslides.”
In the Bahamas, following Melissa’s path northeast of Cuba, the government ordered the evacuation of residents in the southern parts of that archipelago.
At least seven people have already died, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic. One person is missing.
“Early indications are that Hurricane Melissa was an unprecedented catastrophe for the island,” Alexander Pendry, the charity’s global response manager, said on Wednesday. “Reports are already coming in that entire communities are under water and the damage caused by the high winds is devastating.”
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the country “hopes that few lives will be spared” following the incident. Brian Treacher, vice president of the United Cajun Navy, estimated that “trillions of gallons of water” would fall on Jamaica.
“The reports we have received so far include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure,” Holness said. “Our country has been devastated by Hurricane Melissa but we will rebuild and we will do it better than ever before.
More than 500,000 residents have been left without power, with St. Elizabeth’s Parish in southwestern Jamaica completely “underwater,” an official said.
Video from the airport in Montego Bay showed flooded seating areas, broken glass and collapsed roofs.
AccuWeather meteorologists said Melissa ranked as the third most intense hurricane ever seen in the Caribbean, behind Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 – the last major hurricane to hit Jamaica.