Hurricane Melissa - Category 5

NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us to discuss Hurricane Melissa that rapidly grew to a category 5 storm over the weekend. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's start with that conversation. Rory O'Neil, NBC News Radio
national correspondent on the Liveline with US, knows a thing
or two about hurricanes as well. Good morning, Rory.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey, good morning Steve.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Happy Monday, So not so happy if you are in
Jamaica or anywhere around there. Again, in the last hour,
that thing has been upgraded to a Cat five and
they don't get much bigger than that.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, they don't. With wins of one hundred and sixty
miles per hour, it's crazy. But the real issue is
how slowly it's moving three miles per hour. I mean
some of these things will go fifteen, even up to
twenty five miles per hour. So it's over in a flash.
But if you have hurricane force winds extending thirty miles

(00:43):
from the center, that means it's radius as thirty miles,
So it's diameter of just the hurricane force winds. Their
tropical storm winds extend hundreds of miles, but just the
hurricane force wind the diameter is now sixty miles across lee,
which means that if you're hit by the center of
this thing, it's going to take twenty hours to pass
over you. Oh many, that would be the most intense

(01:05):
parts of the storm hitting you for twenty hours, which
is almost unheard of.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Notwithstanding the water. Right the storm surge, this could be
a catastrophe.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, right storm surge is when as the storm approaches.
We always compare it to blowing on that hot cup
of coffee. Right, you watch the water puddle over the
other side, and a big wave sometimes too much. Well
does the same thing with the way these hurricanes work,
and that wall of water is expected to be between
eight and thirteen feet, which means if you're standing on
the edge of the water with your toes getting a

(01:36):
little bit wet, suddenly there's eight to thirteen feet of
water from your toes up and that's the difference, and
that can really cause that devastation on the coastline. But
it's always the water that's the killer. You know, the
wind knocks down buildings, damage, it rips off rooftops, but
for the most part, it's the water that kills you.

(01:56):
Oftentimes after the storm has passed, so the real danger
isn't over just because the winds are dying down. You
still got significant flood concerns after this happens.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
And then Roy, you add the rain to that, right,
I mean it's one thing with a storm surge. It's
another thing when you add inches of rain to already
that wall.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, our feet of rain. I mean it's crazy, right,
what are they saying? Fifteen to thirty inches of rain
depending on where you are, perhaps even some spots getting more.
And I know we're focused on Jamaica, as we should be,
but then this thing is going to move on to
eastern Cuba and the Bahamas as well. Still expected to
be a major Category three or a four storm when
it hits near Guantanamo Bay and our base there, so

(02:36):
that's something to be aware of. Then it starts to
veer off toward the northeast, hitting the Bahamas as I'm
air quoting here, just a hurricane meaning a Cat one
or two. It's then off to the Atlantic, So the
mainland US is not going to be threatened. But you've
got the tourism industry turned upside down, the cruise industry
turned upside down, a lot of different issues all associated

(02:57):
with Melissa, that

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Is, you know, NBC News Radio National correspondent, Thank you,
Thanks Steve