SAT . Hurricane Melissa is now a rare Category 5 storm as it closes in on a historic, catastrophic landfall in Jamaica

Melissa rapidly intensified over the weekend and is now a rare Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds. The National Hurricane Center expects it to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday morning as the strongest hurricane on record to strike the island.

The center of the hurricane is located about 130 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and the storm is moving westward at just 3 mph.

“Do not venture out of your safe shelter,” the NHC said Monday morning. “Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely today through Tuesday. Destructive winds, especially in the mountains, will begin by this evening, leading to extensive infrastructural damage, long-lasting power and communication outages, and isolated communities.”

Tropical storm conditions are already ongoing in Jamaica and hurricane conditions will arrive tonight into early Tuesday as Melissa pushes onshore.

The Jamaican government issued mandatory evacuation orders Sunday evening for several vulnerable coastal communities, including parts of Kingston, as Melissa intensifies on its approach to the Caribbean nation.

“Storm surge is expected mainly over the southern side of the island, and this would be to the east of the center as it starts to, as it approaches the south coast, and as it begins to make impact,” Evan Thompson, the principal director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, said Sunday.

A hurricane warning is effect for Jamaica, where hurricane conditions are expected by Monday night. Cuba has also issued a hurricane warning for the eastern provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin. A tropical storm warning has been issued for much of Haiti, and the government of the Bahamas has issued a hurricane watch for the central and southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Melissa has been moving at a snail’s pace for days and it won’t pick up speed anytime soon as it tracks generally westward until Monday afternoon.

That slow movement has already caused problems. Torrential rain bands have swamped Haiti and the Dominican Republic the last several days, causing flooding and triggering landslides. At least three deaths have been reported in Haiti due to the storm, two of which were the result of a landslide, the Haitian Civil Protection Agency said in a statement. In the Dominican Republic, at least one person has died and more than 1,000 people have evacuated or been displaced, officials said Friday.

Melissa doubled in strength over the weekend as it underwent extreme rapid intensification over exceptionally warm water in the Caribbean.

This explosive strengthening is happening more often as the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution. Three of the four Atlantic hurricanes this season underwent extreme rapid intensification: Erin, Gabrielle and Humberto.

Jamaica, Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic will face the worst of the storm through Tuesday. Next in line for strong winds, storm surge and flooding rain will be eastern Cuba, the southern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

Rainfall totals up to 30 inches are expected from Melissa in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Wednesday, with local maxima of 40 inches. Eastern Cuba could receive totals of up to 20 inches.

Jamaica will not only endure Melissa’s torrential rain, but will also have to contend with days of ferocious winds. The most extreme winds will likely occur as Melissa tracks over Jamaica on Monday night into Tuesday. Downed trees, power outages and structural damage could be widespread.

Winds on windward sides of hills and mountains could be 30% higher than what lower elevations experience, the hurricane center warned.

Officials in the country are already preparing for the worst. All public hospitals have been in “emergency mode” since Thursday evening, halting outpatient and elective procedures to ensure more beds are open, according to Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness.

Emergency shelters have been “activated” across the country for people living in vulnerable areas, Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie said Sunday in a press conference.

Jamaica’s airports are closing. Norman Manley International Airport closed after its last scheduled arriving flight at 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET) Saturday evening, according to Daryl Vaz, the minister of transport.

The Sangster International Airport also closed on Sunday, Vaz said.

“There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Thompson, from Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, said Saturday. “It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving and that is a significant challenge… as long as what is predicted does take place.”

Peak storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall. Storm surge will also be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

“Now is the time to secure your home, check your roof, windows, and surroundings. Use sandbags or plywood where needed and clear any overhanging branches safely,” Holness, the prime minister, wrote on X. “If you live in a flood-prone area, take protective measures and have an evacuation plan ready”

Jamaicans who spoke with Reuters on Saturday acknowledged the danger of a slow-moving hurricane, contrasting Melissa’s sluggish pace to Hurricane Beryl.

“Slow movement still cause a lot of damage, right?” said fisherman Clive Davis in Kingston. “Different from Beryl cause Beryls come with a speed and never stay too long. Just sweep through. But this now, she wants to come stay, visit Jamaica for 3 days, why?”

“It’s gonna slow down business, but it’s nature,” Davis added. “We can’t fight against nature, right?”

Into Saturday, workers in Kingston dredged as much trash and silt as they could from the bottom of Sandy Gully, an approximately 20 km long waterway snaking along the city’s western flank. When Melissa brings its months’ worth of rain as it passes over Jamaica, the swollen, debris-filled gully could knock out bridges, splitting Kingston in two.

The United States mainland is not expected to be directly threatened by Melissa. Even so, rough surf and rip currents could spread along the US East Coast next week.

Hurricane Beryl in July 2024 was the last storm to heavily impact Jamaica. It did not make landfall, but still lashed the island with flooding rain and strong winds as it passed to the south as a Category 4.

CNN Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Mary Gilbert and Linda Lam, along with reporters Billy Stockwell and Max Saltman contributed to this report.