Catholic faithful in Jamaica are responding with “a lot of prayer” as the island nation is battered by what analysts say may be its worst hurricane on record. Source: OSV News.
“No precaution is ever enough for this kind of catastrophe,” Tanecia Shaw, secretary of the apostolic administration at the Diocese of Montego Bay, said yesterday.
Hurricane Melissa, now a Category 5 storm, was set to make landfall in Jamaica late Monday local time, having already killed three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.
With winds of at least 257 kilometres per hour, the storm threatens to bring as much as 100 centimetres of rain and four metres of storm surge flooding to the island.
The last major hurricane to make landfall on Jamaica was the Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which killed 45 and devastated entire sectors of the island’s economy.
While the storm falls squarely within the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially spans June 1 to November 30, the speed with which it has intensified has been alarming, as its winds increased by 112 kilometres per hour within a 24-hour period.
Catholic Relief Services, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ official humanitarian and development outreach, has established a relief fund for victims in Haiti and Jamaica.
CRS noted on its donation page that the “triple threat” of flooding, wind damage and storm surge are poised to hit communities in Jamaica and Haiti hard.
In both nations, CRS said, “many families in the storm’s path live in fragile shelters or informal settlements, where flooding can be devastating and deadly,” creating landslides, displacement and infrastructure damage.
As Jamaica braces for the storm, Ms Shaw repeated her plea for prayers as residents “take the necessary precautions.”
“That’s all we can do at this time – that, and try to be safe,” she said.
FULL STORY
Jamaicans brace for ‘triple threat’ Hurricane Melissa with prayer, emergency prep (By Gina Christian, OSV News)
