Flash flood watch in effect for low-lying areas
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Meteorological (Met) Service of Jamaica has issued a flash flood watch for low-lying and flood prone areas of all parishes.
The flash flood watch is expected to remain effective until 5:00 pm Saturday.
The Met Service said projections are for showers and thunderstorms, which could be heavy at times, to affect Jamaica today into Sunday morning. Flash flooding is likely over some low-lying and flood-prone areas.
The forecast is for unstable weather conditions to occur across all parishes especially northern and southeastern parishes during the next 24 hours.
In the meantime, the Met Service said at 4:00 am the centre of Tropical Storm Erika was located near Latitude 19.1 degrees north and Longitude 75.1degrees west or about 125 kilometres south of Guantanamo, Cuba.
Erika is moving toward the west-northwest near 31 km/h, and this general motion is expected to continue through tonight. A turn toward the northwest and a decrease in forward speed are expected on Sunday. On the forecast track, the centre of Erika will move over portions of eastern Cuba later today and move across central Cuba tonight the Met Service said in a news release Saturday.
It said maximum sustained winds are near 65 km/h, with higher gusts. Erika is expected to weaken to a tropical depression today as it moves over land. It is possible that Erika could degenerate into a trough of low pressure today while it moves over the high terrain of eastern Cuba.
The Met Service said will continue to monitor the situation.
