Hurricane Melissa: Category 5 storm threatens Jamaica with devastation

Video shot by the Hurricane Hunters of the Air Force Reserve 403rd Wing captured the eerily serene eye of Hurricane Melissa as it slowly churned toward Jamaica on Sunday.

The Hurricane Hunters work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to “help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane and help hurricane researchers achieve a better understanding of storm processes,” according to their official website. 

“From a crew member on yesterday’s Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin,” Jeremy DeHart, who posted the video and is himself a former Hurricane Hunter, wrote on X. 

Hurricane Melissa took only 18 hours to go from a tropical storm to a major Category 4 hurricane, which ranks it among the five fastest storms in the Atlantic to grow to Category 4 since 1975, according to an NBC News analysis of government storm data.

United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said today that aid has been readied for Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti to help those affected by Hurricane Melissa.

Staff members from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will be deployed to Cuba and Jamaica this week as conditions allow, said Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general.

In Haiti, the same agency, known as OCHR, has also been supporting authorities, Dujarric said.

“Authorities report that priority needs include emergency shelter, essential household items, hygiene and cleaning kits, safe water and additional logistical support to reach isolated areas,” he said.

The U.N. yesterday approved a $4 million allocation released from the Central Emergency Response Fund for Cuba, where the storm is expected to hit tomorrow night, Dujarric said.

“This allowed our partners to pre-position food and essential supplies — including rice, grains, hygiene kits, fuel vouchers and portable water-treatment plants — in the eastern provinces,” he said.

At 11 p.m. ET the center of Hurricane Melissa was moving to the north-northeast on a path that is forecast for landfall on Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

“On the forecast track, the core of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica on Tuesday, across southeastern Cuba Wednesday morning, and across the southeastern or central Bahamas later on Wednesday,” the NHC said in a bulletin.

The now-Category 5 storm had been moving west in the sea south of Jamaica before turning to the northwest. It is forecast to turn northeast tomorrow and increase speed, the NHC said. Its speed at 11 p.m. was 2 mph.

Maximum sustained winds remained at 175 mph — a Category 5 storm starts at 157 mph — and the center of the storm was 150 miles southwest of Kingston.

Other areas in the Caribbean could also be flooded by heavy rain or storm surges from Hurricane Melissa.

Eastern Cuba could get 10 t0 20 inches or rain and potential catastrophic flooding and landslides, with the downpour expected into Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Peak storm surges for Cuba could be between 7 to 11 feet, it said. Cuba has deployed its military to conduct rescues and other emergency responses, the Reuters news agency reported.

The Bahamas were forecast to get up to 10 inches of rain, which could cause flash flooding, the NHC said.

The storm surge for the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands could be 4 to 6 feet Wednesday, the NHC said.

Jamaica is bracing for a landfall there that is expected tomorrow morning.

An American who was vacationing in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and who is now stuck on the island said tonight that conditions have been calm all day, “but it’s just started picking up.”

Peter Kong spoke to NBC News Now as Hurricane Melissa approaches the island nation as a Category 5 storm with landfall forecast for tomorrow morning.

"My No. 1 goal is keeping my family safe,” he said. “I’ve got my wife and kids here. I’ve also got my mom, my parents — you know, we’re celebrating her 60th birthday.”

Kong said he and his family arrived Thursday, when Melissa was only a tropical storm. When they saw the strengthening, he said, they tried to leave Saturday, but flights had been canceled.

“As long as we get through with the wind and the rain and everybody is safe, that’s all I ask,” Kong said.

Tropical storm conditions continued to occur in Jamaica this evening as Hurricane Melissa was on a path forecast to bring it over the island nation as a Category 5 storm, a U.S. weather agency said.

The center of Melissa was 155 miles southwest of Kingston, and it was moving northwest at 2 mph at 8 p.m. ET, but it is forecast to turn north tonight and then northeast tomorrow, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The center of the storm, which had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph at 8 p.m., was forecast to pass near or over Jamaica early tomorrow.

Tropical storm conditions have been occurring in Jamaica all day. Tropical-storm-force winds were extending up to 195 miles from the center of the storm this evening, the NHC said in its 8 p.m. ET bulletin.

Three people in Jamaica have died during preparations for Hurricane Melissa, the country’s health minister said this evening.

All of the deaths involved trees — in two cases, trees being felled to prepare for the storm struck people, and in a third someone was electrocuted related to the cutting down of trees, Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness, said at a 6 p.m. briefing.

Thirteen others have been injured, mostly from falling from ladders or roofs, as preparations for the approaching storm were being made, he said.

Jamaica is bracing for a dangerous Category 5 hurricane, which could pack winds up to 175 mph and unleash up to 40 inches of soaking rain. Hurricane Melissa could be the strongest storm to ever make landfall in the country.