As Jamaica awaits the potentially devastating impact of Tropical Storm Melissa, the operators of the country’s key sporting venues are hopeful that their preparations will be adequate to reduce the extent of the damage.

Melissa is forecast to become a hurricane today with meteorologists predicting potentially life-threatening flash flooding and landslides islandwide due to the heavy rainfall and damaging winds expected. Reports indicate that it could strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane with its effects set to be felt by Tuesday.

Melissa has already affected the sporting calendar and, with the exception of horse racing at Caymanas Park, all sporting events including the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League and the ISSA schoolboy football competitions have been postponed this weekend. Mount Pleasant’s second-leg Concacaf Caribbean Cup semi-final against Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force FC on Wednesday at the National Stadium has also been called off.

Independence Park General Manager Major Desmon Brown says he’s not concerned about the damage to the playing surface, running track or seating at the National Stadium, which the body operates.

However, he told the Sunday Observer that the National Aquatics Centre may be the most affected venue in the complex.

“The problem is that the water runs off the road and it comes right down into the swimming pool,” Brown said. “What we have done is to put sandbags in the areas that the water come in and hopefully that will help but until the work is done on the main road, there’s nothing we can do because that’s where the water comes from.”

Brown, though, says the National Arena and the Trelawny Stadium stand ready to act as public shelters.

“The National Arena is a national shelter so that is being prepared so that when ODPEM [Office of Disaster Preparedness Emergency Management], if they require it, it’s available. Trelawny Stadium is also a shelter, we have had visits from ODPEM up to [Friday] morning down there so we are as ready as can be,” he said.

Sabina Park, one of the region’s premier cricket venues, will also be under the microscope. Jamaica Cricket Association President Dr Donovan Bennett says they have done everything possible and is hoping the flooding won’t cause significant damage.

“We have everything under control,” Bennett told the Observer. “We had a problem with the water leaking into the scoreboard but we fixed that over the past couple of days. And that is the only real problem that I knew that we had to do some work on. The rest of it, we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.

“There’s going to be a lot of rain, the place is going to be flooded out but we can’t do anything about that. We just have to ensure that we pick up the pieces. Whatever happens, we deal with it afterwards. The drainage is working but we don’t know if any drain can take the amount of rain that has been predicted. So we just have to keep our fingers crossed.”

There isn’t much concern regarding the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall. Montego Bay United President Yoni Epstein says they and the St James Municipal Corporation are confident it will withstand the hurricane due to the stadium’s structure.

“Our [Mobay United] main job is really maintaining the pitch and the exterior areas of the stadium,” Epstein told the
Observer. “The parish council would have gone through their processes and done what was necessary in order to batten down things over there.

“The good part about it is how the structure is made to pretty much withstand almost anything. A steel structure is one of the strongest structures out there so we don’t have any concerns. The parish council has carried out their internal works and we have done what we need to do as a club based on our agreements and we just hope that Melissa takes it easy on Jamaica.”

It’s understood that other venues including horse racing’s Caymanas Park were undergoing major preparations over the previous two days.

Aerial view of the National Aquatics Centre.

Aerial view of Sabina Park during the first T20 International between West Indies and Australia on Sunday, July 20, 2025.

A section of Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, St James.

Independence Park General Manager Major Desmon Brown.

Jamaica Cricket Association President Dr Donovan Bennett (Photo: Observer file)

Montego Bay United President Yoni Epstein.