Footage from a U.S. Air Force weather reconnaissance flight that passed through Hurricane Melissa’s eye confirms you probably don’t want to be there.
The U.S. Defense Department released the video after flying multiple passes through the Category 5 storm on Monday to collect weather data for the National Hurricane Center.
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The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” flies modified “Super Hercules” aircraft equipped with palletized meteorological data-gathering instruments.
(Watch the video in the player above.)
Melissa will be the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.
The record-breaking storm was expected to make landfall on the southwestern part of the island on Tuesday morning, with catastrophic flooding likely to follow.
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Portions of Jamaica could see rainfall of 15 to 30 inches, according to the National Weather Service, in addition to sustained winds upwards of 185 mph.
Around 240,000 Jamaicans ― roughly 35% of people on the island ― were already without power ahead of the storm’s arrival, Jamaican Energy and Transport Minister Daryl Vaz told reporters Tuesday.
The World Meteorological Organization’s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told reporters that Jamaica faces a “catastrophic situation” in the coming days.
“For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure,” Fontan said.
