Manning, daCosta Cup suspended indefinitely - Met Office says Tropical Storm Melissa could make landfall in Jamaica

High School sports' governing body, the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) has indefinitely postponed its top football competitions, the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup, due to the threat of Tropical Storm Melissa.

The directive, issued yesterday afternoon, said: "Based on the update from the Meteorological Office, the next round of matches for the daCosta and Manning Cups have been postponed until further notice.

"Forty-eight (48) hours notice will be given prior to the restart of the competitions."

It continued: "Please stay safe and follow updates from the Meteorological Office."

Meanwhile, Principal Director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, says he is not ruling out the possibility of Tropical Storm Melissa making landfall in Jamaica.

However, Thompson argued yesterday that even if the system, which is projected to become a major hurricane south of Jamaica later this week, does not make landfall, consistent broad bands of showers flowing from the centre could result in flash flooding.

He said the system was likely to churn into a major hurricane south of Jamaica at the weekend, with a significant amount of rainfall of between eight and 12 inches affecting sections of the country.

EcoWatch, a leading online environmental news company, says that just six inches of fast-moving floodwater can knock adults off their feet, and 12 inches can sweep away cars.

With consistent amounts of rainfall over the country in recent times, Thompson said the soil is already saturated and hence flooding could occur quickly.

"The larger area of showers and thunderstorms is occurring from the right side of the centre; so as the system moves over the waters to the south, the right side of the system would be over Jamaica, so heavier rainfall is expected," he sought to explain as he addressed a special press briefing held at Jamaica House in St Andrew yesterday to outline preparations for the storm.

According to Thompson, the consensus model is indicating that the system will move closer to Jamaica in the next few days.

He said the system is likely to become a hurricane by today, but would have likely started impacting Jamaica yesterday.

The country remains under a tropical storm watch, which means that the island could begin to experience tropical storm conditions in the next 48 hours.

Only yesterday, the Ministry of Education suspended face-to-face classes, advising students to switch to its online modality.

Both the Manning and daCosta football competitions had completed first-round fixtures.