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Conditions worsening in Jamaica from planets strongest storm · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Melissa. This monster,
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  Speaker 1: the Category five storm that is already the most powerful
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  Speaker 1: storm on Earth this year. Melissa is expected to make
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  Speaker 1: landfall within hours, but conditions are getting worse, with the
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  Speaker 1: outer bands hitting even as we speak. The new updated
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  Speaker 1: track shows Melissa about one hundred and fifteen miles west
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  Speaker 1: southwest of the capitol, Kingston, with maximum sustained winds of
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  Speaker 1: an astonishing one hundred and seventy five miles per hour. Now,
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  Speaker 1: along with the catastrophic winds that are expected flash flooding,
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  Speaker 1: life threatening storm surge of up to thirteen feet, and landslides,
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  Speaker 1: Mandatory evacuations have been ordered along parts of the coast.
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  Speaker 1: US Air Force hurricane hunters have been inside the eye
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  Speaker 1: of the storm. The National Hurricane Center warns the eyewall
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  Speaker 1: could bring total structural failure to Jamaica, especially at higher elevations.
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  Speaker 1: The storm is already blamed for at least seven deaths
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  Speaker 1: in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica. Seen as Derek
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  Speaker 1: van Dam live in Kingston this morning with the latest, Derek,
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  Speaker 1: what are you saying so far?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, John, we are nearing the inevitable landfall of the
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  Speaker 2: strongest hurricane to ever strike this island nation. No one
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  Speaker 2: on Jamaica will be spared from the fury of Hurricane
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  Speaker 2: Melissa as it comes on shore in the coming hours.
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  Speaker 2: This slow, agonizing pace of about three to five miles
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  Speaker 2: per hour that is just going to prolong the misery
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  Speaker 2: across this country. We are in Kingston, National Weather Service
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  Speaker 2: very strong wording about complete structural failure, communication power outages
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  Speaker 2: for days and isolation of communities possible. Here in Kingston.
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  Speaker 2: You can see the winds picking up in the background.
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  Speaker 2: The rain has really come in earnest throughout the course
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  Speaker 2: of the night. Trying to get a couple of hours
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  Speaker 2: of sleep to prepare for our day today. My windows
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  Speaker 2: were rattling last night as the Norman Manly International Airport,
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  Speaker 2: which is within sight of the balcony of our hotel,
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  Speaker 2: reported August of fifty eight miles per hour was well.
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  Speaker 2: The storm is well offshore of where I'm located one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifteen miles to be precise, but the core
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  Speaker 2: of those inner eyewall winds, the strongest part of this
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  Speaker 2: Cat five hurricane, is about thirty miles in diameter, and
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  Speaker 2: where it will make landfall is so critical. We say
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  Speaker 2: this a lot. It's a game of miles. Now, as
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  Speaker 2: we take that final approach into the south coast of Jamaica,
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  Speaker 2: we're thinking maybe the Saint Elizabeth Parish Treasure Beach, the
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  Speaker 2: Mandeville region. If you look on a map of Jamaica,
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  Speaker 2: you'll see it. What makes the terrain here so susceptible
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  Speaker 2: is a lot of people, a lot of communities live
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  Speaker 2: in these low lying areas that are prone to flash flooding,
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  Speaker 2: mudslides and landslides. So Kingston itself sits in a bowl
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  Speaker 2: surrounded by mountains that tower over seven thousand feet, and
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  Speaker 2: when the water falls in those mountains and here on
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  Speaker 2: the ground, it's going to be met with an opposing
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  Speaker 2: force of the storm surge from Hurricane Melissa, and those
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  Speaker 2: opposing forces are going to work against each other and
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  Speaker 2: make that water rise up right along those coastlines where
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  Speaker 2: unfortunately there still are people located. You can see I
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  Speaker 2: want to pan up here quickly, just as my camera mad.
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  Speaker 2: We do already have a couple of side structural damages
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  Speaker 2: on the side of our building here, and we're really
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  Speaker 2: just getting going. So we're going to monitor that, keep
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  Speaker 2: in a safe place. We do have the ability to
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  Speaker 2: get into us very quickly, but conditions will be going downhill,
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  Speaker 2: and we are thinking and praying for the people of Jamaica.
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  Speaker 2: It is going to be an unthinkable day here on
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  Speaker 2: this islandation, John.
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  Speaker 1: A treacherous combination going into that recipe down there, Derek
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  Speaker 1: van Dam and Kingston where it will get progressively worse.
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  Speaker 1: You and your team please stay safe, Sarah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, already seeing a little bit of damage there and
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  Speaker 3: the storm hasn't even made full landfall yet. Seeing a
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  Speaker 3: meter all does Alison Jinjar tracking the catastrophic storm this morning. Allison,
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  Speaker 3: what can we expect next from Melissa? As we're seeing
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  Speaker 3: those outer bands hitting Jamaica already, all right, so you're really.
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  Speaker 4: Just going to start to see those conditions deteriorate rapidly
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  Speaker 4: over the next few hours because land is expected in
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  Speaker 4: just a few hours from now. The center of the
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  Speaker 4: storm still just south of Jamaiic. It's moving to the
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  Speaker 4: north northeast at about five miles prowur. That's still incredibly slow,
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  Speaker 4: albeit double the speed it's been moving for most of
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  Speaker 4: the overnight hours. So at least a little bit of
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  Speaker 4: improvement there. Then it will continue to slide its way
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  Speaker 4: off to the north, but it is expected to make
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  Speaker 4: landfall as a very powerful Category five storm, gradually and
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  Speaker 4: I mean very gradually weakening as it continues to slide
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  Speaker 4: up to the north over portions of eastern Cuba, then
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  Speaker 4: the Bahamas, before finally making it back out over open water.
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  Speaker 4: Rainfall is certainly going to be the biggest concern with
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  Speaker 4: this system, not just from the flooding aspect, but also
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  Speaker 4: the landslides and the mudslide component that go right along
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  Speaker 4: with it. Here you can see all of those outer
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  Speaker 4: bands stretching across not just Jamaica, but a lot of
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  Speaker 4: the other neighboring island nations as well. Here's a look
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  Speaker 4: at the overall totals. You'll see a lot of red
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  Speaker 4: and pink color on this map, indicating widespread six to
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  Speaker 4: twelve inches of rain. That may not sound like all
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  Speaker 4: that much, but what you have to understand is half
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  Speaker 4: a foot has already fallen across many of these areas.
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  Speaker 4: We're just talking about adding to that total. Some of
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  Speaker 4: these spots could end up topped out at more than
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  Speaker 4: twenty inches of rain before this system finally exits the area.
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  Speaker 4: That's one impact. Now we also have the wind component
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  Speaker 4: because it is still a very powerful Category five storm.
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  Speaker 4: You've got those wind gusts well over one hundred miles
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  Speaker 4: per hour. So as the storm continues to make its
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  Speaker 4: way landfall over Jamaica and then heading up towards Cuba,
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  Speaker 4: it's still going to have very powerful winds. Even if
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  Speaker 4: the storm does weaken, it's still going to have very
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  Speaker 4: strong winds across some of these other countries like Cuba
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  Speaker 4: and the Bahamas. Keep in mind too, that when you
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  Speaker 4: have that saturated ground, it doesn't take much to bring
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  Speaker 4: down trees and power lines. Even if fifty or sixty
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  Speaker 4: mile per hour wind is more than enough to bring
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  Speaker 4: those things down.
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  Speaker 3: It is terrifying just looking at it, and Jamaica has
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  Speaker 3: never experienced a storm like this before. I know you
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  Speaker 3: will be watching the trajectory of this and our Derek
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  Speaker 3: van Dam and Cruise on the ground. We'll be talking
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  Speaker 3: to them throughout the day. Alix and Chinschar, thank you
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  Speaker 3: so much, appreciate it.