Hurricane Melissa LIVE: Category 5 ‘storm of the century’ set to make landfall in Jamaica

Fears of a life-threatening storm surge of up to four metres in southern Jamaica led to patients being relocated form some hospitals, Health Minister Christopher Tufton said.

He said patients in ground floor wards were move to higher floors.

The storm has already been blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

The eyewall is the most intense part of a hurricane - a ring of towering thunderstorms that surrounds the calm centre, or “eye,” of the storm. Here, winds reach their maximum strength, rainfall is heaviest, and waves are tallest.

Inside the eyewall, conditions are extreme: hurricane-force winds can destroy buildings, uproot trees, and cause massive storm surge along the coast. Outside the eye, conditions may seem calmer, but the eyewall is what drives the storm’s destructive power.

Think of the eye as the “eye of the storm” literally, calm and eerily quiet, while the eyewall is the storm’s roaring engine, spinning around it. For anyone in its path, the eyewall is the most dangerous zone - the real heart of the hurricane.

So when a hurricane makes landfall, it’s the eyewall that strikes the coast, not the eye itself.

Satellite image shows the monster hurricane, which dwarfs Jamaica, the purple outline.Credit: cyclonicwx.com

Jamaica has faced hurricanes before, but Melissa is different.

A meteorologist says a category 5 storm with winds of 282km/hr and its slow movement, means it will batter the entire island with unrelenting wind, torrential rain, and a dangerous storm surge.

“For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure,” Anne-Claire Fontan, a World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) specialist, said at a Geneva press briefing.

The combination of extreme intensity, prolonged impact, and record rainfall makes Melissa far more destructive than previous hurricanes, threatening flooding, landslides, and widespread infrastructure damage.

Experts warn it could be the most powerful storm Jamaica has seen in living memory.

A resident removes a loose section of roof in Kingston, Jamaica, as fierce winds batter the region.Credit: AP

Hurricane Melissa will most likely remain a powerful Category 5 storm when it makes landfall in Jamaica in just a few hours.

“We’re running out of time for it to weaken before landfall,” said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Centre.

Melissa has maintained 180km/h winds since yesterday, and while forecasters say its winds may weaken, Beven said it will still be a “catastrophic landfall”.

Hello and thank you for joining us as we provide live coverage of what has been described as “the storm of the century” for Jamaica.

Here’s a recap:

• Hurricane Melissa is on track to make a direct hit on Jamaica within hours, which will be early Wednesday AEDT.
• Described by a meteorologist as “the storm of the century”, Melissa is currently a category 5 hurricane.
• Authorities in Jamaica and Cuba have issued evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people, but many are refusing to leave.
• There have been seven deaths so far in the Caribbean: three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person is also missing.
• The Jamaican government has appealed for international aid, warning that “no infrastructure in the region can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.”
• After Jamaica, Melissa is expected to move toward Cuba, bringing severe weather to Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and other parts of the Caribbean.

A man watches the coastline in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa closes in.Credit: AP