Tropical Storm Melissa lumbered through the Caribbean Sea on Thursday, bringing a risk of dangerous landslides and life-threatening flooding to Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — an island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Officials urged residents in flood-prone areas to seek higher ground.

The storm was blamed for downing a large tree that killed an elderly man in the coastal town of Marigot in southern Haiti, while five other people were injured in flooding in the central Artibonite area, according to the Civil Protection Agency.

The slow-moving storm was centered about 220 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 280 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving north-northwest at 2 mph, the U.S. National Hurrican

See Full Page