Hurricane Melissa was still passing through Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon when videos started to show its destructive force.
The Category 5 hurricane made landfall with 185 mph sustained winds at about 1 p.m. near New Hope, a coastal town in the Westmoreland parish.
It later weakened to a Category 4. Kingston was enduring tropical storm force winds. Montego Bay was enduring part of the hurricane’s eyewall at about 5 p.m.
In Montego Bay, one of the country’s most populous cities, a video showed the hurricane’s winds peeling off the roof tiles of a three-story building.
In Mandeville, a town in the mountains of the Manchester parish, the Ward Avenue was flooded. A video shows fire rescue personnel responding to a flooded home with people trapped inside.
Northeast of Kingston, the rain caused the Plaintain Garden River in the St. Thomas parish to overflow. A video showed the force of the river’s murky currents.
Coverage of the hurricane on Tuesday
- Hurricane Melissa challenges hospitality industry entrepreneur in Jamaica
- Tourists hunker down in Jamaican hotels during Hurricane Melissa
- University professor on Hurricane Melissa in Kinsgton: ‘I have never experienced these gusts’
- Reporting from Montego Bay
- Local 10 News Weather Authority updates
- Here is how to help from South Florida
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