Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: News, World News, Weather
Rhianna Benson
A meteorologist reporting on the record-breaking Hurricane Melissa has gone viral for his response to the devastation.
The Category 5 hurricane took the lives of seven individuals - three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.
Yesterday (28 October), Jamaica found itself in the eye of the deadly storm, which weather experts now say became the strongest storm that planet Earth has seen this year so far.
More than half a million Jamaicans were left without power on Tuesday evening. Top weather expert Dylan Federico yesterday urged residents to take shelter, predicting nationwide communication failures, and entire communities being cut off by fatal flooding.
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Meanwhile in Cuba, 750,000 people had to be evacuated before the storm hit.
Also amongst those to have reported on the natural disaster is John Morales, a weather reporter for NBC affiliate WTVJ.
During a live segment presented on Tuesday, Morales was informed by his co-anchor Adam Berg that the latest barometric pressure of the storm - which indicates its strength, and is determined by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) - was off the charts.
"180 [mph] now," Berg told Morales, referencing the storm's wind power, after which the latter clarified: "OK, 180, and what's the pressure?"
Berg went on to reveal: "Pressure is now down to 896 [mb]."
With the knowledge that storms of this magnitude usually result in considerable loss of life, Morales could be seen digesting this news.
Rubbing his forehead, the visibly-emotional journalist issued a gut-wrenching four-word statement.
"Oh my Jesus Christ," Morales uttered.
The Schenectady, New York broadcaster then went on to tell audiences: "OK, I’m going to hold it together here."
Morales then went on to compare the strength of Melissa's 896 millibars to the barometric pressure of Hurricane Milton, which predominantly impacted Florida, causing 15 direct and 27 indirect deaths.
In the hours since Morales' segment, the latest storm reached maximum winds of 185 mph, as well as a minimum central pressure of 892 mb.
The hurricane has since made landfall in Cuba, where its intensity has thankfully diminished to a Category 3 storm.
That said, however, winds are still bellowing at 120mph, with the NHC warning citizens that they'll face a 'life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and landslides', as per The Independent.
The hurricane is expected to leave Cuba Wednesday morning before moving over to the southeastern and central Bahamas, then on to Bermuda.