This one is truly leaving a mark, and NOT in a good way…
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Hurricane Melissa made its catastrophic landfall along the southwestern coast of Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon as a historic Category 5 storm, lashing the Caribbean island nation with destructive winds well over 100 mph, torrential rains measured in feet and life-threatening storm surge.
Landfall occurred at 1 p.m. ET near New Hope, Jamaica, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), with winds of 185 mph. Since landfall, Melissa’s winds have degraded, but it is still a dangerous Category 3 hurricane.
The eye of the storm has passed over the western side of the island and has since re-emerged over the anomalously warm waters of the Caribbean, eyeing Cuba next.
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
Folks, this is truly bad. Jamaica is not a rich country, nor are the people well off. The amount of damage will be horrendous, exceeding what we saw with Katrina here in the US. In total, Jamaica is only 146 miles long and varies in width from 22 to 51 miles.
And most of those folks had nowhere to ‘escape’ to. The island is not that big, and only has ONE major highway (T-3) that crosses the island from Spanish Town to the area west of Ocho Rios. All of the other ‘highways’ are at best secondary roads.
Some estimates say up to 1.5 million have been significantly impacted by the storm. At least it didn’t hit Kingston, the main population center, but Melissa was bigger than the entire island, with 3 FEET of rain predicted, and storm surges of 13 feet or greater.
A number of US organizations are standing by to go in as soon as possible to start rescue efforts, but food, water, and shelter are going to be an issue, especially on the western end of the island. And I’m not sure if Montego Bay will survive… It was a neat little coastal town back in the 80s…
So if you have a moment, say a prayer for those folks, and the ones in Cuba, and Bermuda who are next to be hit by Melissa…
Melissa was a monster hurricane. Small islands like that are sitting ducks. Prayers and possitive thoughts sent for those affected by this event.
Prayers, and when appropriate, money.
Has the Clinton Foundation figured out how to exploit this tragedy for their benefit yet?
Very well presented. Every quote was awesome and thanks for sharing the content. Keep sharing and keep motivating others.
Reports are arriving that state Haiti has multiple dead from flooding.
The corruption is bad in both Haiti and Jamaica. Relief supplies will end up in the black market, or the control of politicians to use as leverage.
All- Thanks, and no, the Clintons won’t be playing this time… people learned last time!
I was watching coverage on and off through the day. I can’t imagine being in the middle of that thing.
Tuvela- It’s NOT fun. I’ve ridden them out on Guam and Okinawa.
The United Cajun Navy posted on TwitX that they had reps pre-positioned.
Haiti has been screwed since before the French Revolution. They should petition France to take over, but the French aren’t that stupid.