Hurricane Melissa pummeled Jamaica on Tuesday. It is one of the largest and most violent storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. The Category 5 storm is responsible for the deaths of at least 7 people. It is the strongest to hit the Caribbean island nation since record keeping began more than 174 years ago. Damage assessments are ongoing. As of midday Tuesday, the storm had led to the deaths of at least three people in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic. Power was knocked out to at least a third of Jamaica. The storm lashed the island with sustained winds in excess of 185 miles per hour. Gusts ripped roofs off of buildings and toppled trees. The flooding from Melissa’s storm surge and rainfall is as dangerous as the high winds. Tides crested above 13 feet. And the storm dropped up to 40 inches of rain in less than two days. The combination of winds and flooding have made rescue efforts and surveys of the wreckage difficult. Officials fear that the damage could be extreme in many areas. “There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Andrew Holness told The Associated Press. He is Jamaica's prime minister. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.” The power of Melissa forced storm trackers to stop their missions due to safety concerns. But they were able to record some pressure readings from inside the eye of the storm. The lower the pressure inside a hurricane, the more violent it can be. Melissa’s pressure had dropped to 892 millibars by mid-Tuesday. That's low enough to make it the third-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record. It is just behind Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988. Hurricane Melissa is forecast to make landfall in Cuba Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm. Reflect: If you were faced with a powerful natural disaster, what do you think would matter most to you in how you respond or help others? Photo of lightning flashing within the eye of Hurricane Melissa from Reuters.
