Category five Hurricane Melissa strengthens as it heads for Jamaica

KINGSTON, Oct 27 (AFP): Hurricane Melissa strengthened Monday as it took aim at Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean as a top-level Category 5 storm, with forecasters predicting catastrophic flooding and urging residents to seek shelter immediately.
Melissa has been blamed for at least four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this week, as its outer bands brought heavy rains and landslides.
The storm is moving at a worryingly slow pace, meaning areas in its path could see punishing conditions for far longer than a hurricane that passes by more quickly.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Melissa was packing maximum winds nearing 160 miles (260 kilometers) per hour.
Up to 40 inches (about a meter) of rainfall were forecast, with deluges expected to bring flash flooding and landslides to Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
"This extreme rainfall potential, owing to the slow motion, is going to create a catastrophic event here for Jamaica," NHC Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said in a webcast briefing.
Melissa is currently moving at just three miles an hour.
"You need to just be wherever you're going to be and be ready to ride this out for several days," Rhome said.
"Conditions will deteriorate really, really rapidly here in the next few hours. Don't be out and about after sunset."
A 79-year-old man was found dead in the Dominican Republic after being swept away in a stream, officials there said Saturday. A 13-year-old boy was missing.
In neighbouring Haiti, the civil protection agency reported the deaths of three people caused by storm conditions.
"You feel powerless, unable to do anything, just run away and leave everything behind," Angelita Francisco, a 66-year-old homemaker who fled her neighbourhood in the Dominican Republic, told AFP through tears.
Floodwater had inundated her house, causing her refrigerator to float away as trash bobbed around the home.
Jamaica was expected to see deteriorating conditions from Melissa through
Monday, with landfall expected early Tuesday."Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides and likely" in Jamaica, the NHC warned.
Destructive winds will lead to "extensive infrastructural damage, long-lasting power and communications outages," it added.
A storm surge of up to 13 feet (four meters) is expected along the country's southern coastline, according to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, and mandatory evacuations were ordered for several coastal areas of the island nation.