"Brace for Impact: Britons Seek Shelter as Hurricane Melissa Slams Jamaica in ‘Storm of the Century’"

BRITONS have told of their terror just as the world’s strongest storm is about to smash into Jamaica.

Thousands of Brits – – are awaiting the , which is already lashing the island with 180mph winds.

British mum Michaela Menezes is taking refuge in a hotel in KingstonCredit: Nick Parker A man walks along the coastline of Kingston JamaicaCredit: AP Palms trees sway in fierce gusts of windCredit: AP

What we know so far…

• Melissa is set to be Jamaica’s
• The hurricane will make landfall later this morning
• in holiday accommodation
• Seven people dead so far: Three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, one in Dominican Republic
• More than 50,000 Jamaicans already without power
• See from inside the eye of the storm

They include British mum Michaela Menezes who took refuge in a hotel with her two children.

Michaela said: “We’re expecting to get smashed” as she took The Sun on a video tour of her safe room as .

The family has pushed the beds together so the children can be near their mum, and they’ll retreat to the bathroom if the windows are blown in.

Their hotel has generators and water tanks to keep the facilities on – but there’s no telling how well they will hold out.

Michaela said: “We haven’t felt her full wrath yet, but wind speeds are very high and rain is pelting down.

“We’ve been battered for the last six hours, but that’s nothing to the level of strength we’ll soon feel.”

Hurricane Melissa is soon expected to make landfall on Jamaica’s south coast, where thousands have been forced to evacuate.

It is expected to be the most severe storm to batter the island since records began 174 years ago, and the Red Cross said it is preparing to help up to 1.5million people.

Anne-Claire Fontan, from the World Meteorological Organization, warned of a “catastrophic situation” about to unfold on Jamaica.

Other Brits have taken to social media or sent messages back home to share how they’re feeling as they hunker down.

One said she was “really scared” and “praying for the whole of Jamaica”, while another said the whole island felt “anxious” as they waited for the storm to hit.

Clips have also been posted of hotels and resorts battening down the hatches in anticipation of the ferocious winds.

Terrified tourists have been posting updates to social media as they take shelterCredit: TikTok/@mamaof3girls3 Furniture and anything vulnerable to the wind has been stowed awayCredit: Weather Channel Hotels have been organising their guests with suppliesCredit: Weather Channel

Rebecca Chapman told BBC Radio 4 this morning that she “doesn’t feel safe” as she scrambled to take shelter with her children just 30 minutes from Montego Bay.

She said: “It never looked like a Caribbean sea, it seems very dark and angry, it’s very foreboding, there’s a weird rumbling noise coming from the horizon, it’s ominous, eerie, strange.”

Brit holidaymaker Andrew Tracey told Sky News he was locked down in a hotel alongside an estimated 200 other Brits.

He said: “The tension in the hotel last night when we went down for dinner was definitely one of nerves, even locals.”

The hurricane dwarfs the island of JamaicaCredit: AFP Trees strain under the super-strong windsCredit: Reuters

Another Brit, Wayne Gibson, is staying in a hotel on the north coast with his wife and two daughters.

He told the BBC: “My daughters have now become upset because they’re starting to get scared, because we’ve packed up all of our luggage.

“So it’s now starting to become a bit real, and I think the chaotic side of it is now starting to creep in.”

The Foreign Office has set up a crisis centre ready to help Britons on the Caribbean island and the Royal Navy ship HMS Trent is already in the region on stand-by.

Authorities in Jamaica have instructed locals to find higher ground and issued a number of .

The government has closed all the airports until further notice, opened emergency shelters, and placed hospitals in emergency mode.

People take shelter in a school ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s forecast arrival in Old Harbour, JamaicaCredit: AP A man at the waterfront in KingstonCredit: AFP

Two locals were crushed to death by trees being cut down in preparation for the storm, and one died from electrocution, Jamaica’s Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said on Monday.

Three more people were killed in Haiti and one person in the Dominican Republic as Melissa stirred up winds ahead of making landfall.

Neighbourhoods will be battered by up to 40 inches of rain and a “life-threatening” 13ft storm surge, according to experts.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, has warned the recovery will demand “far more resources than Jamaica has”.

He said he was expecting major damage to roads, bridges, drains and airports, and earlier said: “I have been on my knees in prayer.”

Power has already been knocked out in some areas, leaving 52,000 islanders without power, according to Jamaica Public Service.

Some streets are already flooded before the storm makes landfallCredit: AP Hurricane Melissa is so large it can be easily made out from spaceCredit: Alamy

Dr Steve Godby, an expert in natural hazards at Nottingham Trent University, was in Jamaica for a previous Category 5 storm – Hurricane Dean – which only “grazed the southern coast” back in 2007.

He saw “informal housing in coastal districts levelled, trees stripped of leaves and branches and even concrete electricity pylons snapped”.

Dr Godby said: “Unlike Dean, Melissa is heading for a landfall close to major population centres and will bring severe threats to people at the coast and inland this time. It is the kind of storm few Jamaicans will have witnessed.”

Eastern Cuba will be next in Melissa’s path – with tropical storm conditions expected to start there on Tuesday evening.