Climate Change Editor
jean-marc.rampersad
@guardian.co.tt
All eyes were on Hurricane Melissa over the past week as it gained attention, initially due to its slow movement. However, once the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) increased the intensity forecast to a landfalling category five, meteorologists and other experts knew that this would be a record-breaking, historic system.
Melissa was the strongest and only category five hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica. The last major hurricanes to make landfall there were Gilbert (1988) and Charlie (1951), both at category three strength, and all three systems were coincidentally separated by 37 years.
In terms of landfalling hurricanes, Melissa has equalled the 1935 Labour Day Hurricane in both maximum wind speed and pressure (185 mph and 892mb respectively). Looking at all Atlantic hurricanes, Melissa is now the third most intense in recorded history.
After Melissa moved off to the north-east yesterday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness toured the damaged communities in the St. Elizabeth parish, which was one of the hardest hit. He spoke with many residents who told him their heartbreaking stories. Holness stated via his Facebook page, “Today is Day 1 of our national recovery. We are acting quickly to assess the damage and bring relief. Jamaica, we are strong, and we will get through this.”
In an interview with Guardian Media yesterday, principal director of the Jamaican Meteorological Service, Evan Thompson, described Melissa’s unique characteristics. He said, “It’s not usual either for us to have these hurricanes move from south to north over our western parishes. The eastern parishes are more accustomed to being directly impacted by these hurricanes.”
He continued, “The system was moving so slowly, inching its way along, and we have never really seen that kind of movement through our area.”
In terms of damage to the service’s infrastructure, Thompson was relieved that there were no major issues, but there may have been damage to several of the weather stations across the island, as he noted they had lost communication with them. There were also some issues with their website (which were resolved) and with radar data transmission.
Asked about the well-being of his staff during the hurricane, Thompson said, “Not too many people think about the welfare of the people who are working so hard behind the scenes. Quite often, we do have to leave our families behind and I’ve been working through hurricane activity since Gilbert (in 1988).”
He said he was relieved to report that there have been no major incidents with his staff and they were willing to report for duty, be part of this historic hurricane and were in good spirits.
