Hurricane Melissa was located about 380km (235 miles) southwest of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, the NHC said in its latest advisory on Saturday afternoon.
A hurricane warning was in place for Jamaica as the NHC said life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides were expected in portions of southern Hispaniola Island – shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic – and Jamaica into early next week. The event is expected to cause damage to housing, infrastructure, and transport networks due to heavy rainfall, strong winds, flooding, and landslides.
Hurricane conditions are forecast for Jamaica during the weekend and subsequently for the southern peninsula of Haiti. Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping is requested to provide flood extent and damage assessment emergency mapping. Based on the analysis of remotely-sensed images, Copernicus EMS On-Demand Rapid Mapping will analyse the impact of the event in 4 areas of interest.