Name: Destructive surge and flooding threaten Jamaica
Uploaded: 2025-10-27T19:44:09.299Z
Duration: 6 min 3 s
Description: Warm water in the Caribbean has formed a storm that will bring heavy downpours and flood threats for Jamaica and surrounding areas.

Warm water in the Caribbean has formed a storm that will bring heavy downpours and flood threats for Jamaica and surrounding areas.

A major hurricane has struck Jamaica, bringing torrential rain, destructive winds, and a significant storm surge. Meteorologists report that the storm, fueled by unusually warm Caribbean waters, is causing widespread flooding and threatens critical infrastructure, particularly in Kingston and surrounding communities.

The hurricane is expected to cross Jamaica from south to north before moving towards southeastern Cuba, with continued heavy rainfall also affecting southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Authorities warn of life-threatening conditions, potential for landslides, and prolonged humanitarian needs, including food, water, shelter, and medical care. International relief efforts are anticipated to be necessary in the aftermath.

Destructive surge and flooding threaten Jamaica

Joining us right now, though, is Accuweather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, who has been covering the storm throughout last week. I mean, we've been talking about this for weeks, unfortunately, and we also have been talking about how the Caribbean was just going to be a fuel source for any storm that got into it. MOLSA happened to be just that. Absolutely, Melissa, it was just too much warm water that has been in the Caribbean. There's been no storms that have affected, have traversed this area yet this year. So that means there's a lot of heat energy available for rocket fuel to do power and intensifying hurricane. And that's just what happened over the weekend. That's exactly what Accuweather meteorologist hurricane experts had forecast. And look at the storm is slowly making its way to the west northwest at three miles per hour. And that is one of the major problems with this storm is that the torrential rain across parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica will continue here for several days on end. And that adds to the flooding risk, which is one of many threats with this storm. And of course, we continue to follow this storm northward. It is going to linger in the Caribbean for a while, but then it should shoot off to the northeast. It will. What's going to happen is this big dip in the jet stream here in the eastern United States that we've been talking about that was going to steer Melissa to the north and northeast and accelerate it. Look at the storm will stay in the Caribbean for a few days, as you mentioned, but then we'll be rocketing off to the north and east and the two areas we've been concerned about. South Florida, the risk for any impacts there is lowering very quickly. As soon as that storm turns to the north, we'll be able to all clear south Florida. So very small risk for any impacts there remain. And the other area that we're watching closely is Atlantic Canada and maybe the main coastline. But even there, the risk looks like it's decreasing as the storm is most likely to pass out to sea and close to Jamaica. And here we are expecting it to make landfalls, a major hurricane, maybe some weakening after Jamaica. That's still a question as to how much Jamaica can weaken it. There will be some land interaction that can reduce the wind intensity a bit. We're expecting a landfall at seven a.m. eastern time on Tuesday. Then the storm will be crossing the island from south to north and expect the worst conditions along into the east of the track of the storm, including the capital city of Kingston and many, many communities there. And then, as you mentioned, the storm is going to reemerge out over the water and likely a major hurricane hit coming to southeastern Cuba. And it's going to be approaching at an angle, which is also a problem for storm surge concerns in Cuba as well. All the while the rain, heavy rain, torrential rain continues across parts of southern Haiti and southern Dominican Republic as well. We start with a look at those winds first, because those will be problematic, unfortunately, for areas near and just east of the eyewall, which looks to stay west of Kingston itself. Right. Wind gusts still possible around 120 miles per hour in the Kingston area. This is going to risk damaging critical infrastructure. And we all remember what happened with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. So the impacts in an area that does not have as much infrastructure as other parts of the world and the structures may not be able to sustain the winds as well. It's a big concern for serious damage here across the Caribbean. And of course, that damaging wind will also make its way up toward Cuba. As well, and then look at this storm surge we're talking about anywhere from 10 to 15 feet in the hardest hit areas, six to 10 feet in the Kingston area. That's a problem because that could damage utilities, water processing facilities, electric utilities that could prolong the suffering as well. And then another significant storm surge problem across southeastern Cuba, as I mentioned, as well as the storm makes landfall again there at midweek. One of the biggest concerns and takeaways from this really has been the rain. We've already seen it raining for a day in Kingston and there's still more to come. Much more to come. Twenty four to thirty six inches in Kingston and Accuweather local storm max of 50 in the western Caribbean. That is the scale of how much rain is going to be associated with this storm and why we're so concerned, especially in steep terrain where that water can run off the mountains and result in significant flooding and landslides. Some communities, Melissa, may be cut off from other areas for days or weeks on end. A true life threatening situation. It's not often that we use catastrophic impacts across such a wide area, but we have that from Jamaica toward the southern part of Hispaniola here. As a result of all these impacts, as you know, from last week, Melissa was rated a five by Accuweather hurricane experts on the Accuweather real impact scale for hurricanes, which is the most holistic view of hurricane impacts. This is a slow moving disaster. There's really no other way to state it than that. We know that there already has been loss of life and there will be more to come. What is a humanitarian crisis? We've been talking about the risk for this to quickly escalate to a humanitarian crisis with widespread injuries and tragically loss of life. That's why we've done everything we can do here at Accuweather to get the message out about these widespread impacts. And it appears there's going to be a large number of people in need of the basics during and after the storm. Food, clean water, shelter, medical care, the kinds of things that are going to be urgently required in the aftermath of the storm. There could be infrastructure failures, power, clean water, things of that nature. And of course, with poor sanitation, there's a risk for disease in the immediate aftermath of the storm, which can unfortunately prolong the suffering. And the bottom line is this is going to require a tremendous amount of help, not only in Jamaica, but across other parts of the Western Caribbean here. And there's going to be a tremendous need for international relief in order to be able to help people in the aftermath of this serious storm. No two storms are the same. Talking about Maria kind of helped put it in perspective for me this morning. Thank you, Chief Meteorologist John Porter again for joining us.

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