Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Jamaica with 185 mph winds
Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica, with winds of 185 mph and up to 40 inches of rain expected.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight and roared over Cuba as a Category 2 storm on Wednesday, making it the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and prompting Jamaican authorities to begin investigating the extensive damage left in its wake.
Melissa reached Jamaica on Tuesday as an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, bringing damaging winds, devastating flash flooding and landslides across Jamaica. The storm caused widespread infrastructure damage, including power outages and communications outages, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents in the dark.
At least seven people were killed as the storm approached Jamaica, and local authorities said it was too early to tell how many more died after making landfall. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told CNN after the storm passed that the government had not received any confirmation of any deaths from the storm, but “we do expect some loss of life.”
Winds that reached 185 miles per hour on the island “were like a roaring lion” as the storm approached, retiree Colin Henry McDonald told Reuters. “It’s crazy. It’s really crazy.”
Desmond McKenzie, the island’s Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, said parishes across Jamaica were reporting severe flooding, road closures, and damage to fallen trees and power poles. St. Elizabeth Parish was submerged in floodwaters, with the only public hospital without power and severe damage reported to one of its buildings.
The International Federation of the Red Cross previously announced that up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica were expected to be directly affected by the storm. About 15,000 people were in temporary shelters by late Tuesday, McKenzie said. The government had issued compulsory evacuation orders for approximately 28,000 people.
After making landfall in Jamaica, the hurricane weakened toward eastern Cuba before strengthening again and becoming a Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The Hurricane Center said it made landfall in Cuba’s Santiago de Cuba province at 3:10 a.m. ET on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm. As of 8 a.m., it was a Category 2 storm moving over eastern Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph.
Melissa is expected to move offshore from eastern Cuba late Wednesday morning, cross the southeastern and central Bahamas later that day, then pass near or west of Bermuda late Thursday.
Jamaican authorities said it was too early to give an accurate tally of the number of people who may have died from Hurricane Melissa.
In the days leading up to landfall, the storm is believed to have killed at least seven people across the Caribbean, including three each in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Mr McKenzie said on Tuesday that authorities were praying for no deaths on the island, but the situation remained too dire to complete an assessment.
According to the Hurricane Center, Melissa strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Cuba and made landfall as a Category 3 storm. The agency warned in an advisory Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET that Melissa is expected to make landfall in Cuba as an “extremely dangerous major hurricane.”
A hurricane warning was issued for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas, as well as the southeastern and central Bahamas.
More than 735,000 people had been evacuated in Cuba by Tuesday night, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a social media post. The next island Melissa headed northeast to was the Bahamas, where the government ordered residents in the southern part of the islands to evacuate.
“There will be a lot of work to do. We know this cyclone will cause significant damage,” Diaz-Canel said in a message published in state newspaper Granma.
In preparation for Melissa’s birth, the Jamaican government sought foreign aid. On Monday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew said his government had a $33 million emergency budget and insurance and credit provisions for damages.
President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, South Korea, that he was closely monitoring the situation and was ready to provide humanitarian aid to Jamaica. “We are ready to move,” the president said.
He expressed surprise at Melissa’s strong winds. “I’ve never seen numbers like that. I saw it a while ago. Wind speeds are 195 miles per hour,” he said. “Maybe it’s that expensive, but I’ve never seen it.”
Hours before Tuesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat announced a $1 million donation in partnership with the Mickey and Madeleine Allison Family Foundation and Carnival Cruise Lines to support post-hurricane recovery efforts.
Food aid nonprofit World Central Kitchen said in a statement that it was in Jamaica ahead of landfall and is “working with local partners to begin providing meals to families affected by the storm as soon as possible.”
Honeymooners Tierra Coleman and Laquon Triplett have already had two flights back to Milwaukee canceled due to Hurricane Melissa.
As of Tuesday, the couple said they were waiting to leave in their room at a resort about 40 minutes from Montego Bay. The resort is powered by a generator and there was limited food available to guests. The newlyweds are considering ways to return to their home in Milwaukee, and Coleman told USA TODAY that their best hope is this weekend, if the road is clear.
“There was a loud banging on the ceiling and the door was shaking,” Coleman said. “Most of the palm trees have fallen and some of the resort grounds have been damaged.”
Their experience is similar to that of many other travelers stranded in their beloved Caribbean destinations, seeking shelter and safety as their return home remains in flux. read more.
-Kathleen Wong
Damage and destruction in Jamaica is estimated at $22 billion, according to a preliminary analysis by AccuWeather.
The estimate includes damage to homes and businesses, disruption to the economy and tourism, as well as other losses from prolonged power outages, travel delays and infrastructure, the paper said.
Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’s chief hurricane expert, said recovery efforts could be dangerous and lengthy, with residents and tourists stranded for long periods of time.
“This was a historic and devastating storm for the Western Caribbean. Recovery and rebuilding after being hit by a Category 5 storm could take more than a decade.”
Contributed by: Reuters
