There are birds trapped in the eye wall of Hurricane Melissa, according to a message from hurricane hunters at the National Hurricane Center.
The alert, known as a vortex data message, was sent on Monday afternoon and included the simple but noteworthy sentence “Birds in eyewall,” along with information about the speed, character and location of the vortex.
It is not unusual for migrating birds to get sucked in by the force of a hurricane’s winds. Once they reach the eye of the storm, where conditions are relatively calm, it is nearly impossible for them to escape. Flocks will often fly with the storm across vast distances.
The news “underscores the profound ecological toll that Hurricane Melissa will have on Jamaica’s biodiversity — our coral reefs, mangroves, and terrestrial ecosystems,” said Donovan Campbell, a professor of environmental geography at the University of the West Indies near Kingston, Jamaica, who has led climate reports for the United Nations. “The storm threatens to reverse decades of progress in ecosystem restoration and conservation.”
Jamaicans who depend on the natural environment for their livelihoods, and who are often among the poorest and most vulnerable, will bear the brunt of this destruction, he said.
Sachi Kitajima Mulkey covers climate and the environment for The Times.
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