KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Heavy floodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa came ashore as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council, urged people to seek shelter and stay indoors as the storm crosses the island.

“Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” he said.

The Jamaican government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of devastating damage from the strongest hurricane to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa came ashore near New Hope, with officials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. The storm is expected head toward Cuba, where intermittent rain was falling.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. He was sheltering with his grandmother in Portmore, where everything went dark earlier in the day after a loud explosion.

“The noise is relentless,” he said. “People are anxious and just trying to hold on until the storm passes.”

Massive wind damage is expected in Melissa’s core and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph (322 kph), said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“It’s going to be a very dangerous scenario,” he said, warning that there would be “total building failures.”

Hurricane Melissa’s 185 mph (295 kph) winds and 892 millibars of central pressure tied two records for the strongest Atlantic storm on landfall. The pressure — the key measurement meteorologists use — ties 1935’s Labor Day hurricane in Florida. The wind speed ties the 1935 hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, said hurricane scientists Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University and Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami.

“It’s been a remarkable just a beast of a storm,” Klotzbach told The Associated Press.

On Tuesday evening, Melissa had top sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 8 mph (13 kph) as its center exited Jamaica and moved into the Caribbean Sea, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane was centered about 15 miles (20 kilometers) east of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and about 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) is expected across southern Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coast. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, “and (we) hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place.”

One man called a radio station saying he urgently needed to help a woman in western Jamaica who had gone into labor as the storm neared landfall. The show’s host pleaded with listeners to let him know the safest hospital before an obstetrician called in to provide detailed directions on how to deliver a baby, if necessary.

In Kingston, officials warned residents of the surrounding area to watch out for crocodiles that might be displaced from their habitats by flooding.

McKenzie said the government was prepared for rescues immediately after the storm passes through: “We have boats, helicopters, you name it.”

The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

More than 240,000 customers were without power before landfall and about one-fourth of the telecommunications system was offline ahead of the storm, said Darryl Vaz, transport and energy minister. He said crews will clean and run tests at the island’s two main international airports Wednesday in hopes of receiving emergency relief flights as early as Thursday.

U.N. agencies and dozens of nonprofits had food, medicine and other essential supplies positioned as they awaited a distribution rush after the storm.

Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s water and environment minister, said he had more than 50 generators available to deploy after the storm, but warned people to set aside clean water and use it sparingly.

“Every drop will count,” he said.

Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain was forecast in areas, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged the population to not underestimate the power of the storm, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”

In the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, people streamed into the home of 83-year-old Eduviges Figueroa at the foot of the Sierra Maestra mountains to seek shelter after fleeing their homes in remote areas by bus, truck and even horse-drawn carts.

“We’re helping as best we can,” she said. “Now I’m cooking for everyone.”

People in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city with more than 1 million inhabitants, spent Tuesday frantically preparing. Few people were on the streets, while state television showed Cubans in rural areas rounding up animals and protecting crops.

Diamon Mendoza, 36, did not hide her concern about the unavoidable storm.

“May God have mercy on us, because it’s coming with a lot of strength,” Mendoza said. “Anything can happen.”

Authorities in eastern Holguín province prepared to evacuate more than 200,000 people Tuesday and evacuated a similar number of people earlier from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed blue and white buses ferrying evacuees to shelter early Tuesday. Families clutched babies and belongings and elderly people steadied themselves with canes as they disembarked.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin, Andrea Rodríguez in Havana, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Ariel Fernández in Santiago de Cuba contributed to this report.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — U.S. forecasters issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica Saturday as Storm Melissa reached hurricane strength, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean.

A hurricane warning means winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) are expected in the area within 36 hours.

Melissa is ”likely starting to rapidly intensify and expected to become a major hurricane tomorrow,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Saturday afternoon as Melissa had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph).

The slow-moving storm was expected to drop torrential rain, up to 25 inches (64 centimeters), on Jamaica, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

A similar forecast was issued for the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through Monday. Life-threatening flooding and landslides were possible, with up to 35 inches (89 centimeters) of catastrophic rain across the Tiburon peninsula in southwestern Haiti, the center said.

The Cuban government on Saturday afternoon issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin.

The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

“Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm, it is increasingly dire,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said earlier on Saturday. He said the storm will continue to move slowly for up to four days.

Melissa was located about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 250 miles (405 kilometers) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was slowly moving westward at 3 mph (6 kph), according to the hurricane center.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch remained in place for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti.

The center of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica early next week, forecasters said. Melissa was expected to become a major hurricane by Sunday and possibly reach Category 4 status by early Monday, U.S. forecasters said. It is forecast to hit eastern Cuba early Wednesday, where up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) could fall in some areas.

Authorities in Jamaica said on Saturday that the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston will be closed at 8 p.m. local time. It did not say whether it will close the Sangster airport in Montego Bay, on the western side of the island.

More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed.

“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”

The hurricane center confirmed the risks in a key message Saturday afternoon.

“Jamaica prep should be completed today. Melissa’s slow motion brings multi-day damaging winds plus heavy rainfall, catastrophic flash flooding, landslides, damage, long-duration power communication outages, isolation,” the center said.

Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.

“The storm is causing a lot of concern with the way it’s moving,” said Ronald Délice, a Haitian department director of civil protection, as local authorities organized lines to distribute food kits. Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes.

The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.

The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.

Associated Press writer Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Erin exploded in strength to a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly powering up from a tropical storm in a single day, the National Hurricane Center said.

While the compact hurricane’s center wasn’t expected to strike land, it threatened to dump flooding rains on the northeast Caribbean as it continued to grow larger.

The first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, Erin ramped up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a mere 24 hours. By late Saturday morning, its maximum sustained winds more than doubled to 160 mph (255 kph).

Mike Brennen, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Erin had grown into a “very powerful hurricane.” He said its winds gained 60 mph (96 kph) in intensity within about nine hours Saturday.

“We expect to see Erin peak here in intensity relatively soon,” Brennan said in an online briefing.

The Hurricane Center said Erin should weaken somewhat late Saturday or early Sunday as the storm encounters increased wind shear and possibly takes in more dry air. However, forecasters predict it will remain a major hurricane until midweek.

The hurricane was located 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Anguilla at 2 p.m. Saturday, moving west at 16 mph (26 kph). The storm’s center was forecast to remain at sea, passing 145 miles (233 kilometers) north of Puerto Rico, according to the National Weather Service.

Erin was close enough to affect nearby islands. Tropical storm watches were issued for St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten. The Hurricane Center warned that heavy rain in some areas could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides.

Tropical-storm force wind gusts are possible in the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeast Bahamas.

Though compact in size, with hurricane-force winds extending 30 miles (45 km) from its center, the Hurricane Center said Erin was expected to double or even triple in size in the coming days.

Erin could create powerful rip currents off the U.S. East Coast from Florida to the mid-Atlantic next week, even with its eye forecast to remain far offshore, Brennan said.

Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin gained strength at a pace that was “incredible for any time of year, let alone August 16th.”

Lowry said only four other Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic on or before Aug

The most powerful storms tend to form later in the year, with the hurricane season typically peaking in mid-September.

In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma rocketed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm in less than 24 hours, according to National Hurricane Center advisories from that time. Wilma weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before striking Florida.

Including Erin, there have been 43 hurricanes that have reached Category 5 status on record in the Atlantic, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, a private forecasting company.

“They’re certainly rare, although this would mark the fourth year in a row that we’ve had one in the Atlantic basin,” Pydynowski said about Category 5 hurricanes. Conditions needed for hurricanes to reach this strength include very warm ocean water, little to no wind shear, and being far from land, he said.

Scientists have linked rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean to climate change. Global warming is causing the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and is spiking ocean temperatures. The warmer waters give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly.

Storms that ramp up so quickly complicate forecasting for meteorologists and make it harder for government agencies to plan for emergencies. Hurricane Erick, a Pacific storm that made landfall June 19 in Oaxaca, Mexico, also strengthened rapidly, doubling in intensity in less than a day.

Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. It’s the first to become a hurricane.

The 2025 hurricane season is expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph).

In San Juan, locals and tourists walked, exercised and shopped on Saturday as usual. Restaurants were busy, and despite warnings to avoid the beaches, people could be seen in the water at Ultimo Trolley and Ocean Park beaches. Puerto Rican parents, however, kept their children from swimming.

Sarahí Torres and Joanna Cornejo, visiting San Juan from California for a Bad Bunny concert, said they decided to go to the beach and wade into the water because the skies appeared calm.

“The weather looked fine, so we came out,” Torres said.

The U.S. government deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution. Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters were inspected and ready to open if needed.

Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.

“These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement,” said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas’ disaster risk management authority.

Associated Press reporters Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia and Ivelisse Rivera in San Juan contributed. Bynum reported from Savannah. Georgia.

HA LONG BAY, Vietnam (AP) — A boat carrying tourists capsized during a sudden thunderstorm in Vietnam on Saturday afternoon during a sightseeing excursion, killing 34 people, state media reported. Eight others remain missing.

The Wonder Sea boat was carrying 48 passengers and five crew members — all of them Vietnamese — during the tour of Ha Long Bay, a popular destination for visitors, according to the reports.

Rescue workers saved 11 people, and recovered the dead near the site of the capsizing, VNExpress newspaper said. Authorities had earlier reported that 12 people had been rescued, but later revised the figure to 11.

The boat turned upside down because of strong winds, the newspaper said. A 14-year-old boy was among the survivors, and he was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull.

The newspaper said that most of the passengers were tourists, including about 20 children, from Hanoi, the country’s capital.

A tropical storm is also moving toward the area. A national weather forecast said that Storm Wipha is expected to hit Vietnam’s northern region, including Ha Long Bay’s coast next week.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Powerful Hurricane Erick made landfall in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca early Thursday as a major hurricane before moving inland and weakening as it dumped heavy rain, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The hurricane’s center was located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north-northwest of Punta Maldonado around midday. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at 75 mph (120 kph). It was moving northwest at 12 mph (19 kph), the hurricane center said.

The storm was downgraded slightly before making landfall, from a powerful Category 4 to a Category 3.

The storm threaded the needle between the resorts of Acapulco and Puerto Escondido, tearing into a sparsely populated stretch of coastline near the border of Oaxaca and Guerrero states. Agricultural fields blanket the low-lying coastal area between small fishing villages.

Erick was expected to rapidly weaken as it crashed into the coastal mountains of southern Mexico, and the system is likely to dissipate late Thursday or early Friday, the hurricane center said.

The storm threatened to unleash destructive winds near where the eye crashes ashore, flash floods and a dangerous storm surge, forecasters said.

At first light Thursday, Acapulco awoke under ominous dark clouds. Rain started later in the morning with the arrival of stronger winds. There was light traffic in the streets.

Some residents shopped in the few open stores, fishermen went to the shore to check their boats and a few people took advantage of the calm for a quick swim.

However, the storm moved northwest just inland up the coast through midday, bringing heavy rain to the resort and the mountains that tower dramatically above it.

Still, it appeared Acapulco had dodged the worst at least in terms of Erick’s strong winds.

Late Wednesday, Erick’s projected path had crept south, closer to the resort city of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca state with Acapulco up the coast to the northwest.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday “the people have reacted very well so far.”

National Civil Defense Coordinator Laura Velázquez said Thursday that at the moment there were no reports of injuries. Water entered a public hospital in the Oaxaca resort of Huatulco, and there were fallen trees, cuts to power and landslides blocking highways.

But authorities warned the heavy rain would now become the problem.

Forecasters expected Erick to lash Mexico’s Pacific coast with heavy rain, strong winds and a fierce storm surge. Rains of up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) could fall across the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, with lesser totals in Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco states, the center’s advisory said. The rainfall threatened flooding and mudslides, especially in areas with steep terrain.

Guerrero Gov. Evelyn Salgado urged residents of her state Thursday to not grow complacent after Erick made landfall in neighboring Oaxaca.

“In Guerrero we continue on maximum alert, Erick is still a danger with the intense rains, it could drop on our state in the coming hours,” she said.

Salgado said among 21 shelters that received families in Guerrero, the one in Punta Maldonado had the most with 757 people hunkering down there.

Acapulco residents had braced for Erick’s arrival with more preparation and trepidation because of the memory of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Otis two years earlier.

The city of nearly 1 million was devastated in October 2023 by Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 hurricane that rapidly intensified and caught many unprepared. At least 52 people died in Otis and the storm severely damaged almost all of the resort’s hotels.

On Thursday morning, Marcial Gallardo, a 60-year-old waiter stepped into the water of Acapulco’s bay for a quick swim with his son. He said he takes a dip every day. Gallardo said he had tied down everything ahead of Erick after Otis had torn apart his home, and so far had fared well.

In Acapulco Thursday, there was a strong presence of National Guard and police in the streets, but most visible were trucks from the national power company. Crews worked to clear drainage canals and brush.

Having doubled in strength in less than a day, Erick churned through an ideal environment for quick intensification. Last year, there were 34 incidents of rapid intensification — when a storm gains at least 35 mph in 24 hours — which is about twice as many as average and causes problems with forecasting, according to the hurricane center.

Sánchez reported from Acapulco, Mexico.

FLIN FLON, Manitoba (AP) — Roughly 17,000 residents in the Canadian province of Manitoba have been evacuated because of nearly two dozen active wildfires, officials said Saturday.

More than 5,000 of those are from Flin Flon, where there is no rain in the immediate forecast. There have been no structure fires in the city located nearly 645 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Winnipeg as of Saturday morning, but officials worry that a change in wind direction could bring the fire into town.

Manitoba declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as the fires burning from the northwest to the southeast forced evacuations in several communities in the province directly north of the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota. Smoke from the fires is being pushed south into some parts of the U.S., worsening air quality.

Thousands have also been affected by wildfires in Saskatchewan and Alberta, with 1,300 people in the community of Swan Hills northwest of Edmonton forced from their homes.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told a news conference Saturday that ongoing hot, dry weather is allowing some fires to grow and threaten communities, and that the current figure of 8,000 fire evacuees could climb to 10,000.

Resources to fight the fires and support the evacuees are stretched thin, Moe said.

“The next four to seven days are absolutely critical until we can find our way to changing weather patterns, and ultimately a soaking rain throughout the north,” Moe said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service said Saturday it has deployed an air tanker to Alberta, and the U.S. is sending 150 firefighters and equipment like sprinkler kits, pumps and hoses to Canada.

“We are here to help our neighbors during their time of need, and our Forest Service Wildland Firefighters are the best in the business. I am thankful for the men and women who are bravely stepping up to serve, “ U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said in a statement.

In northern Manitoba, fire knocked out power to the community of Cranberry Portage, forcing a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for about 600 residents. People living in smaller nearby communities were told to prepare to evacuate after a fire jumped a highway.

“Please start getting ready and making plans to stay with family and friends as accommodations are extremely limited,” Lori Forbes, the emergency coordinator for the Rural Municipality of Kelsey, posted on social media.

Evacuation centers have opened across the province for those fleeing the fires, including one as far south as Winkler, Manitoba, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the U.S. border.

Evacuations that started earlier in the week for Pimicikamak Cree Nation ramped up Saturday, when five flights were expected to take residents to Winnipeg. “The wildfire has crossed the main road, and the area remains filled with smoke and ash,” Chief David Monias wrote on social media.

Winnipeg has opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and convention-goers.

The fire menacing Flin Flon began Monday near Creighton, Saskatchewan, and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba. Crews have struggled to contain it. Water bombers have been intermittently grounded due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion.

The 1,200 or so residents of Creighton have also been ordered out, many of whom have gone to nearby Nipawin, Saskatchewan. In total, more than 8,000 people have fled wildfires in Saskatchewan.

Canada’s wildfire season runs from May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll from devastating flooding in a market town in Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger rose to at least 151 on Saturday, the local emergency service said, amid efforts to find more victims.

Torrents of predawn rainfall early Thursday unleashed the devastating flood on Mokwa, nearly 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Abuja and a major trading and transportation hub where northern Nigerian farmers sell beans, onions and other food to traders from the south.

The spokesperson for the Niger State emergency service, Ibrahim Audu Husseini, confirmed the updated fatality count to The Associated Press on Saturday. In addition to the rising death toll, 11 people were injured and more than 3,000 people were displaced, the official added.

At least 500 households across three communities were affected by the sudden and intense flood that built rapidly in about five hours, leaving roofs barely visible and surviving residents waist-deep in water, trying to salvage what they could and rescue others.

Husseini added that two roads were washed away and two bridges collapsed.

In a statement on Friday night, President Bola Tinubu expressed condolences and said he had directed the activation of an emergency response to support victims and “accelerate” recovery.

He said that security agencies have also been asked to assist in emergency operations, which remain underway amid concerns that more bodies could be recovered in remote areas.

“Relief materials and temporary shelter assistance are being deployed without delay,” the president said, promising “no Nigerian affected will be left behind or unheard of.”

Flooding is common during Nigeria’s wet season. Communities in northern Nigeria have been experiencing prolonged dry spells worsened by climate change and excessive rainfall that leads to severe flooding during the brief wet season. But this flood has been particularly deadly in Mokwa, a farming region near the banks of the River Niger.

Mokwa community leader Aliki Musa told the AP the villagers are not used to such flooding.

The chairman of the Mokwa local government area, Jibril Muregi, told local news website Premium Times that construction of flood-control works was long overdue.