With ominous funk, Jamaica braces for the approaching Melissa
Hurricane Melissa is going to be the deadliest storm in Jamaica’s recorded history of natural disasters. Now, meteorologists say that since 1851, a storm of such ferocity has never happened in the island. Melissa’s fury is more worrisome than that of Hurricane Katrina whose scars have not yet fully healed.
The wind speed has peaked to 158 mph, and its eye is shifting in the northwest direction in the Caribbean Sea at a rate of just three kilometers an hour. Its slow shift along the region has brought an unexpected benefit to the Jamaicans. They have got just enough time to evacuate to nearby government shelters. However the approaching hurricane generates a weird roar that drives fear into the minds of Jamaicans.
(The above map is sourced from www. the weathernetwork.com)
The meteorologists in the U.S. have been continuously warning Jamaicans that this is going to the most devastating natural calamity in the region so far. This is because as the hurricane bears down on the ground, it will cause copious rainfall of about 40 inches that is sure to flood scores of homes and markets. The sea around the island could surge by a whopping 13 feet. The unrelenting torrential rains and the raging seas will cause unimaginable catastrophe to the tiny island nation.
Four people have already died in Haiti and the Democratic Republic. The death count is sure to rise manifold as the storm makes its way through the region.
The National Hurricane Center in the U.S. has upgraded Melissa to Category Five— the highest in the disaster scale.The International Panel of Climate Change has predicted that intense storms like Melissa will happen more often as the climate on earth gets warmer.
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Words and phrases used .. Ominous, Funk, Brace for, Bear down, Whopping, Weird
Question .. What is the difference between Hurricane and Typhoon?