Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm with winds reaching 185 mph, has become the most powerful hurricane to strike Jamaica in the past 174 years. The Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told Newsmax on Tuesday that his organization [is] "preparing for the worst."
"This is this is just devastating, what’s happening to that island. To think that those kinds of winds, 185 mile-an-hour winds, and the homes that people live in Jamaica, I've been to Jamaica many times. They're just not built for this," Graham said.
"We're loading our 757 cargo plane tonight. We're going to put shelter material on it and we'll have food on it. All this stuff we're taking down there, but we're taking a helicopter that will go down tomorrow," Graham said during an appearance on "The Record for Greta Van Susteren."
Graham noted that much of the recovery efforts will depend on the damage at the country's two major airports.
"But we're ready to take the hospital down there later in the week, if that need be," he said. "We talked to the Jamaican Embassy yesterday. They know the capacity. They've welcomed us.
"They said, 'Everything that we can do to help you. We'll be glad to help you. Please come. We will need your help.' We'll just have to wait and see. But no question, it's going to be catastrophic," Graham added.
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James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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