Tourist in Jamaica shares food parcels being handed out to guests amid Hurricane Melissa

Hotels on Jamaica's northern coast have locked down in a bid to keep guests safe as Hurricane Melissa is expected to make landfall in the next few hours.

The country has already been battered with violent winds and heavy rainstorms, with many areas losing power, including much of the popular tourist destinations Negril and Treasure Beach.

Hundreds of British holidaymakers are believed to be trapped in the Caribbean after the island was locked down and the airports closed ahead of the Category five storm, which is carrying winds of up to 135mph.

One holidaymaker, currently staying at the all-inclusive RIU hotel on Ocho Rios Beach, recently took to TikTok to share the packages they had been given in their rooms as the hotel locks guests down for safety.

Posting from the account @sexyfaace, the guest held up the bag which contained packets of noodles, juice boxes, fruit and biscuits, which she and her partner had been given while they've been unable to leave the hotel.

Taking to a TikTok live earlier today (28 October), the TikToker showed the extent of the storms raging against the side of the hotel, but said the hotel buffet had been open the day before so they had been able to ration their food packages for when they needed them.

According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), the brunt of the hurricane is expected to hit land later today, with Melissa roughly 55 miles away from the island at the time of writing.

“An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft has found that Melissa is strengthening with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 kph),” the National Hurricane Center wrote on X.

“Residents in Jamaica should not leave their shelter as winds will rapidly increase within the eyewall of Melissa. Remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions,” it added.

Around 200 Brits are believed to be in Jamaica currently and the UK FCDO has opened an emergency line. Brits in need of assistance are urged to 'contact Consular Support at 876-936-0700 (Select Option 2)'.

Jamaica's Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon told BBC Newshour that the island was bracing for a storm 'the likes of which we have never seen'.

"We've been having rain all of October. So the ground is already very saturated. And then to take that much rain means we're going to have flooding, extensive flooding and landslides in the mountainous areas," she said, adding that the nation had activated all '881 shelters'.