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Tropical Storm Melissa passes Caribbean There is a danger of dangerous landslides and deadly floods in the sea on Thursday Jamaica and southern HispaniolaOfficials urged residents of flood-affected areas to seek higher ground.
Dozens of people were already in shelters Dominican RepublicAnd schools, businesses and government agencies were closed under alert in nine provinces. Dozens of water supply systems were out of service on Wednesday, affecting more than half a million customers.
In Jamaica, officials said 881 shelters would be made available as needed. Courts were ordered closed and schools had to shift to remote classes Thursday.
Ivan Thompson, director of the Jamaica Weather Service, said up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain could fall in the eastern area of the island. “It is raining heavily now and that is the main thing we need to take care of at this time,” he said.
Similar rainfall was expected across southern Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic by Saturday, with the potential for even more rainfall locally depending on Melissa’s path over the weekend. Heavy rain is also forecast for western Jamaica, southern Hispaniola, Aruba and Puerto Rico.
People were also concerned about the impact in Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic and has been devastated by previous hurricanes. Mass violence, poverty, and ineffective governance mean that storm preparedness is limited.
Late Wednesday, Melissa had maximum winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving west at 2 mph (4 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The slow-moving storm was centered about 335 miles (535 kilometers) south-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and about 295 miles (475 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica.
Melissa was expected to move close to Jamaica and southwestern Haiti later this week. The forecast was that it would gradually strengthen and become a typhoon by Friday and a major hurricane by the end of the weekend.
“Unfortunately, it appears increasingly likely that Melissa will become a large and dangerous hurricane,” the US center warned.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, and the first named storm to hit the Caribbean this year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an above normal season with 13 to 18 named storms. Of those, five to nine were forecast to become hurricanes, including two to five major hurricanes packing winds of 111 mph or greater.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.