The most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic for nine years is moving towards Jamaica with wind speeds of up to 260km/h (160mph), strong enough to wreck houses.

Weather forecasters have upgraded Hurricane Matthew to category five, the highest on the scale of intensity. Jamaican PM Andrew Holness has called an urgent meeting of parliament to discuss hurricane preparedness.  The storm is expected to make landfall by Monday. 

Jamaica's palm-lined southern coast is expected to be hit first. The capital, Kingston, is located in the area, as is the country's only oil refinery. Officials have warned the high winds could also batter the island's main tourist areas including Montego Bay in the north.  "The government is on high alert," Holness' director of communications, Robert Morgan, was quoted by BBC as saying. 

Local emergency teams as well as the police and army are on standby, while shelters are being set up throughout the island, Morgan said. Tropical storm warnings have also been issued for parts of coastal Colombia and Haiti over the weekend. 

Forecasters said up to 38cm (15 ins) of rain could fall across Jamaica and on southern Haiti. While Jamaica was damaged by hurricane Gilbert in 1988, the last major storm in the region was Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Source : QNA