Stunning footage revealed the interior of Hurricane Melissa’s massive eye as it barreled toward Jamaica with nearly 200 mph winds — the strongest storm to hit the island country in recorded history.
The clip — shared on X by storm chasing meteorologist Jeremy DeHart — showed a cylindrical wall of clouds standing thousands of feet high as the wicked storm bore down on Jamaica Sunday.
“As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin,” DeHart wrote.
Despite the 175 mph winds raging within the eyewall, clear blue skies and sunshine were visible above the towering clouds.
A Category 5 behemoth, Melissa is poised to crash head-on into Jamaica by Tuesday morning — the first storm of its size to make landfall on the island since hurricanes began being recorded in 1850, Fox Weather told The Post.
And it pales in comparison to the strongest storm to hit Jamaica — Hurricane Gilbert, a Category 3 that made landfall in 1988 — which damaged or destroyed at least a fifth of the island’s buildings at a cost of $2.5 billion and killed 45 people.
Melissa is forecast to make landfall between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. with winds of at least 150 mph — which Fox Weather predicted would have grim results for the island nation.
“All of Jamaica will be impacted in some way,” Fox Weather meteorologist Greg Diamond said.
“Across western Jamaica, the eyewall’s 150-plus mph winds will have the potential to flatten buildings and cause extensive and long-lasting damage to all infrastructure in the area.”
Upwards of 40 inches of rain could also fall, causing “catastrophic flooding and numerous landslides across the island,” Diamond added.
The storm will have moved past Jamaica by Wednesday, and will make landfall in southeastern Cuba and wreak havoc on Haiti, then hit the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos before moving out to sea.
Melissa will likely have moved into the Atlantic by the end of Wednesday and could make its final landfall Thursday in Bermuda.
Florida and the mainland US are not expected to face any serious effects from the storm, though strong rip currents and rough seas could be experienced around the panhandle.
Melissa began lashing Jamaica on Monday, with every airport on the island shut down and power lines already beginning to fall from the winds.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in some places, with storm surges of up to 13 feet expected and flash flooding posing serious risks.
