Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.
After lashing Jamaica with dangerous winds and flooding rain, Melissa made a second landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning. Melissa then moved through the Bahamas, and next, on Thursday night, the storm will pass Bermuda as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.
All airports in Jamaica were closed Sunday ahead of Melissa's landfall, the country's transportation minister said.
In addition, Starlink, the telecommunications subsidiary of SpaceX, has provided support to the government to help with communication capability during and after the storm's passage.
Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm, producing maximum sustained wind speeds of 145 mph.
If it maintains its strength, it could become the strongest hurricane to make landfall over the island since the National Hurricane Center started keeping records.
The strongest hurricane on record to make landfall over Jamaica was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130 mph.
