KINGSTON, JAMAICA – October 29, 2025 – Hurricane Melissa, a historic and “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm, has left a trail of immense destruction across the Caribbean, making a record-tying landfall in Jamaica before battering eastern Cuba.
🌪️ Record-Breaking Landfall
Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope on Tuesday, October 28, with catastrophic sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) and a central pressure of 892 millibars. This intensity officially tied the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian for the strongest Atlantic hurricane at landfall by wind speed.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a disaster area, stating that “There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5.” The storm is the most powerful to strike the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago.
💔 Catastrophic Damage in Jamaica
The sheer power and slow movement of Melissa resulted in a devastating, prolonged assault on Jamaica’s infrastructure and communities:
- Widespread Destruction: Reports from the ground indicate “total structural failure” in parts of the southwestern coast. Roofs were ripped off thousands of homes, and major businesses and hospitals sustained heavy damage.
- Flooding and Landslides: Melissa’s sluggish pace, combined with Jamaica’s mountainous terrain, resulted in torrential rainfall, with up to 40 inches possible in some areas. This caused catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides, isolating entire communities.
- Utilities Out: As of Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of customers—over half of the island—were without electricity, and communications systems were severely compromised, complicating damage assessments and rescue efforts.
- Casualties: Multiple fatalities have been confirmed in Jamaica, with the death toll across the wider Caribbean (including Haiti and the Dominican Republic) continuing to climb due to flooding and storm-related incidents.
🇨🇺 Cuba and the Bahamas Brace
After exiting Jamaica, Melissa, though slightly weaker, remained a formidable major hurricane.
- Cuba Landfall: The storm moved over exceedingly warm waters, which allowed it to restrengthen before making its second landfall in eastern Cuba early Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm, near the city of Santiago de Cuba. Cuban authorities successfully executed a mass evacuation of over 700,000 residents ahead of the storm’s arrival.
- Current Path: Melissa is currently moving north-northeast and is expected to move across the Southeastern and Central Bahamas later Wednesday, bringing damaging winds, flooding rains, and dangerous storm surge to the island nation.
🌡️ The Climate Connection
Climate scientists have pointed to Melissa as another concerning example of rapid intensification, where a storm’s wind speed significantly increases in less than 24 hours. The storm was fueled by exceptionally warm ocean temperatures—several degrees above average—that provided high-octane fuel for the system, allowing it to grow into a “monster hurricane” defying conditions that would typically cause weakening.
The immediate focus for the affected nations remains search-and-rescue, providing aid to the nearly 15,000 people in Jamaican storm shelters, and beginning the monumental task of long-term recovery.