Hurricane Melissa

[Yazata]

This is a very strong, very slow moving hurricane. It doesn't appear to present any danger to to the United States, but it looks like it might linger over Jamaica at major hurricane strength for three days!

What's more, it's intensifying very rapidly, currently at Cat.3 but expected to be as strong as Cat.5 in a matter of hours!

The US National Hurricane Center says: "A multi-day period of damaging winds and heavy rainfall is expected to begin tonight, causing catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding annd numerous landslides. Extensive infrastructural damage, long duration communication and power outages, and potentially prolonged isolation of communities is likely. A life-threatening storm surge is also likely... All preparations should be completed today."

NOAA predicts that some mountain locations in Jamaica might see as much as 40 inches of rain!! The capital of Kingston might see something like 20 inches.

Heavy rainfall is expected in western Haiti as well, and perhaps as far as the Dominican Republic. Then Melissa is expected to hit eastern Cuba and the southern Bahamas before heading out into the Atlantic.

I have a very bad feeling about this. Many people are going to die in the next few days.

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National Hurricane Center
@NHC_Atlantic
23m

11pm EDT 10/25: Major Hurricane #Melissa Key Messages: Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to continue rapidly intensifying. Residents of #Jamaica should seek shelter now and stay inside for the next several days as damaging winds and heavy rain have begun, and will continue to get worse Sunday, Monday & into Tuesday. See http://hurricanes.gov for more info, including impacts in #Haiti, #Cuba, and #DominicanRepublic. The #Bahamas and #TurksandCaicos should monitor the progress of Melissa.

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https://x.com/LaurenDreyer/status/1981781719864029607

Lauren Dreyer, the VP of Starlink business operations at SpaceX says that the Starlink team is in close contact with emergency preparedness officials in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

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[Magical Realist]

Sweet Melissa! My sister and her hubbie are flying to Key West on Sunday for pleasure. They always seem to time their trips when a hurricane is nearby. lol