By Kylie MacLellan and Farouq Suleiman
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on the southern coast of eastern Cuba on Wednesday as a category three hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.
Melissa was located about 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), the Miami-based forecaster said.
Cuban authorities said some 500,000 people were ordered to move to higher ground.
It came hours after making landfall in neighboring Jamaica as the strongest-ever cyclone on record to hit that Caribbean island nation.
In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth was left “underwater,” an official said, with more than 500,000 residents without power.
“The reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure,” Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN after the storm had passed.
Holness said the government had not received any confirmed storm-related fatalities, but given the strength of the hurricane and the extent of the damage, “we are expecting that there would be some loss of life.”
Stay with us for the latest updates as we get them.
Source: reuters.com