Overview
- Air Force reconnaissance found Melissa up to 70 mph early Saturday as the nearly stationary storm edges northwest about 3 mph south of Jamaica.
- Hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica, with a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning for Haiti’s southwestern peninsula including Port-au-Prince.
- The National Hurricane Center projects 15–25 inches of rain across southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Tuesday, with up to 35 inches possible on Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula and a high likelihood of life-threatening flash floods and landslides.
- The center is expected to move near or over Jamaica this weekend into early next week and approach eastern Cuba by midweek, with the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos potentially facing tropical-storm or hurricane conditions thereafter.
- At least four deaths have been reported in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, hundreds of homes are damaged with widespread water disruptions, and Jamaica has activated more than 650 shelters as officials prepare for prolonged impacts; longer-range U.S. risk remains low but uncertain.