{"id":329904,"date":"2025-10-24T20:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/329904\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T20:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:03:11","slug":"tropical-storm-melissa-nearly-stationary-in-the-caribbean-as-a-major-flood-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/329904\/","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Melissa nearly stationary in the Caribbean as a major flood threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) \u2014 Tropical Storm Melissa<\/a> was nearly stationary in the central Caribbean<\/a> on Friday, with forecasters warning it could soon strengthen and swipe Jamaica as a powerful hurricane while unleashing catastrophic flooding and landslides in southern Haiti<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The erratic storm was expected to drop copious rain on Jamaica and the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic<\/a>. At least three people were reported killed in Haiti.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese heavy rains are just going to sit over one area for several days,\u201d said Jamie Rhome, deputy director at the U.S. National Hurricane Center.<\/p>\n

The storm was located about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica<\/a>, and about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and was moving east-southeast at 2 mph (4 kph), the U.S. center said.<\/p>\n

A hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning were in effect for Jamaica and Haiti\u2019s southwest peninsula.<\/p>\n

Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain is forecast for parts of southwest Haiti and east Jamaica through Monday, with higher amounts possible. Up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain was expected for the rest of southern Haiti and for the southern Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

Catastrophic warnings for Haiti<\/p>\n

The National Hurricane Center warned that heavy rainfall would cause \u201ccatastrophic flash flooding and landslides across southwestern Haiti by this weekend into early next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

It noted that strong winds could also last for a day or more over Haiti\u2019s Tiburon peninsula.<\/p>\n

Haiti\u2019s Civil Protection Agency said a landslide in Port-au-Prince killed two people and injured another, with the death toll rising to three. Earlier this week, a large tree fell on an elderly man in southern Haiti and killed him, while five other people in the country\u2019s central region were injured in flooding,<\/p>\n

The U.N. said it has prepared more than 100 emergency shelters in Haiti\u2019s southern region.<\/p>\n

Wilgar Joseph said he and his family were leaving their home in Les Cayes out of safety because it has a zinc roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stay with a friend whose home is on higher ground so I can protect myself in case it gets out of control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, thousands of people living in makeshift shelters across Port-au-Prince after gangs forced them to flee their homes worried about the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message on the radio is to protect ourselves,\u201d said Dina Georges. \u201cHow can I protect myself if I don\u2019t have a home? I\u2019m on the streets. And on top of that, I have two kids to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nephtali Johnson Pierre, 35, echoed those sentiments: \u201cI\u2019m dealing with two storms: the gangs and the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A slow-moving disaster\u2019<\/p>\n

Melissa was expected to move toward Jamaica over the weekend. It was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane by Saturday and become a major hurricane by Sunday, possibly reaching Category 4 status before dawn on Monday.<\/p>\n

Forecasters said that Jamaica could see life-threatening flooding and landslides because the ground is already saturated from recent heavy rains unrelated to the storm.<\/p>\n

The storm is moving so slowly that parts of Jamaica could experience hurricane conditions for 72 hours or longer, said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather\u2019s lead hurricane expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelissa is evolving into a slow-motion disaster,\u201d he said. \u201cMillions of people are at risk of catastrophic impacts. We are increasingly concerned about the threat of a humanitarian disaster unfolding, especially if this storm stalls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcus Thompson, who lives in Kingston, said he covered his windows and stocked up on water and canned food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been through storms before, but it\u2019s better to be prepared early this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Others checked their roofs, cleaned gutters and charged electrical devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved my car to higher ground and gathered all essential documents just in case,\u201d said Alton Williams, who lives in Mandeville.<\/p>\n

In eastern Kingston, Veronica James said she was following updates and keeping her children informed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf officials decide evacuation is necessary, we have a small bag ready with medicine and important papers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Schools, health centers and government offices closed across Jamaica on Thursday, with authorities warning that all airports would close within 24 hours if a hurricane warning is issued. More than 650 shelters were activated.<\/p>\n

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness<\/a> said the storm\u2019s slow movement posed planning difficulties but noted the public sector would close by Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamaica is at risk,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bahamas\u2019 Foreign Affairs Ministry announced it would evacuate Bahamian students out of Jamaica on Friday ahead of the storm.<\/p>\n

Flooding persists in Dominican Republic<\/p>\n

The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic<\/a> and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights and unleashed a couple of small landslides.<\/p>\n

All public schools across the Dominican Republic were closed Friday, as were government offices in 12 provinces under alert. Nearly two dozen communities were cut off by floodwaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an event that we should be following minute by minute,\u201d said Juan Manuel M\u00e9ndez Garc\u00eda, emergency operations director in the Dominican Republic. <\/p>\n

Officials noted that evacuations in areas under alert were mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing here is to save lives. The risk is the enormous amount of rain,\u201d said Dominican President Luis Abinader.<\/p>\n

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.<\/p>\n

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica and Sanon from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) \u2014 Tropical Storm Melissa was nearly stationary in the central Caribbean on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":329905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[51944,163876,3881,1613,10109,10106,163878,14505,746,6064,723,57,8884,2692,29606,18155,163357,87744,1612,162426,163879,23754,930,159,3883,162657,61,67,132,68,163877,313,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-329904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alex-dasilva","9":"tag-andrew-holness","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-central-america","12":"tag-climate","13":"tag-climate-and-environment","14":"tag-dina-georges","15":"tag-dominican-republic","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-fl-state-wire","18":"tag-florida","19":"tag-general-news","20":"tag-haiti","21":"tag-hurricanes","22":"tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","23":"tag-jamaica","24":"tag-juan-manuel-mndez-garca","25":"tag-landslides-and-mudslides","26":"tag-latin-america","27":"tag-luis-abinader","28":"tag-marcus-thompson","29":"tag-natural-disasters","30":"tag-oceans","31":"tag-science","32":"tag-storms","33":"tag-tropical-storm-melissa","34":"tag-u-s-news","35":"tag-united-states","36":"tag-unitedstates","37":"tag-us","38":"tag-veronica-james","39":"tag-weather","40":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}