Photos as Hurricane Melissa makes landfall as Category 5 storm

(NewsNation)  — Jamaicans braced for impact Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa neared landfall, threatening catastrophic storm surges, flash floods and landslides as the worst storm to hit the Caribbean island this century.

“Don’t bet against Melissa because you will lose,” warned Jamaican Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, as authorities implored residents to seek protection in shelters and fortify their residences.

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Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans were already without power as Melissa approached Tuesday morning, lashing the coast with violent gusts and torrential downpours.

The Category 5 storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was about 55 km (34 miles) southeast of the Jamaican resort town of Negril as of 1600 GMT and packing maximum sustained winds of 295 km per hour (183 miles per hour), with even higher gusts, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The Miami-based hurricane center warned that “total structural failure” was likely in Melissa’s path.

“It’s a catastrophic situation,” the World Meteorological Organization’s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a press briefing. “For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.”

Storm surges of up to four meters were expected, she said, with rainfall set to exceed 70 cm (2.3 feet), causing “catastrophic flash flooding and landslides,” she said.

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Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities said. At least three people died during storm preparations in Jamaica, local media reported.

The NHC expects the storm to hit Jamaica on Tuesday and remain as a strong hurricane when it crosses eastern Cuba to move over the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos by Wednesday.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis has ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago.

In Cuba, authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people from areas vulnerable to winds and flooding.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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