Kingston, Jamaica — Hurricane Melissa intensified to Class 5 early Monday because it neared Jamaica. It is forecast to dump as much as 30 inches of rain on Jamaica there and produce a life-threatening storm surge.
Melissa is forecast to make landfall on the island Monday evening and Tuesday and cross southeastern Cuba and the Bahamas by means of Wednesday.
Early Monday, Melissa was centered about 130 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, the Miami-based U.S. Nationwide Hurricane Middle mentioned.
The hurricane had most sustained winds of 160 mph and was inching west at 3 mph, the middle mentioned.
Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, that means it has winds of at the least 157 mph — catastrophic power able to destroying lots of the houses in its path. Melissa is the strongest hurricane in current historical past to straight hit the small Caribbean nation.
CBS Information 
Some native areas of jap Jamaica might get 40 inches of rain whereas western Haiti might get 16 inches, in accordance with hurricane heart. “Catastrophic flash flooding and quite a few landslides are possible,” it warned.
“Harmful winds and storm surge and catastrophic flooding will worsen on Jamaica by means of the day and into tonight,” CBS Information meteorologist Nikki Nolan careworn.
The slow-moving storm has killed at the least three folks in Haiti and a fourth within the Dominican Republic, the place one other particular person stays lacking, in accordance with authorities.
“I wish to urge Jamaicans to take this severely,” mentioned Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Catastrophe Danger Administration Council. “Don’t gamble with Melissa. It is not a secure wager.”
Octavio Jones / REUTERS 
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