Hurricane Melissa updates: ‘Storm of the century’ makes landfall in Jamaica

You can read more about Hurricane Melissa here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of today’s major developments.

• Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, one of the strongest to hit the island nation in modern history.
• Cuba’s Minister of Public Health Jose Angel Portal Miranda has taken to social media to call on his country’s citizens to comply with protective measures in preparation for Hurricane Melissa.
• With winds of nearly 300km (185 miles) per hour, Hurricane Melissa is the most powerful tropical storm recorded this year globally, according to an AFP analysis of US weather data.
• Jamaican officials have acknowledged the havoc the storm is likely to bring to the country’s infrastructure, and have launched an emergency relief website.

Heavy floodwaters have swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings, and boulders tumbled onto roads as Hurricane Melissa came ashore.

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa came ashore near New Hope, with officials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. The storm is expected to slice diagonally across the island and head toward Cuba, where intermittent rains were falling.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. He was sheltering with his grandmother in Portmore, where everything went dark earlier in the day after a loud explosion.

“The noise is relentless,” he said. “People are anxious and just trying to hold on until the storm passes.”

Massive wind damage is expected in Melissa’s core and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph (322 km/h), said Michael Brennan, director of the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

“It’s going to be a very dangerous scenario,” he said, warning that there would be “total building failures”.

Jamaican health authorities have urged residents across the island to be vigilant for crocodiles displaced by Hurricane Melissa.

“Rising water levels in rivers, gullies, and swamps could cause crocodiles to move into residential areas,” posted the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) in a public service announcement on Instagram.

“Residents living near these areas are therefore advised to remain vigilant and avoid floodwaters.”

SERHA, which serves residents across Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine and St Thomas, warned families to keep children and pets away from flooded areas.

Ferocious winds and torrential rain tore into the Caribbean nation Tuesday as the deadly Hurricane Melissa made landfall, the worst storm ever to strike the island nation and one of the most powerful hurricanes on record.

The extremely violent system was crawling across the Caribbean, promising catastrophic floods and life-threatening conditions.

In its latest update, the National Hurricane Center urged Jamaican residents to remain sheltered in “your safe place”.

“THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION!,” it said in a post on X.

“Do not leave your shelter as the eye passes over, as winds will rapidly increase on the other side of the eye,” it added.

With winds of nearly 300km (185 miles) per hour, Hurricane Melissa is the most powerful tropical storm recorded this year globally, according to an AFP analysis of US weather data.

The Category 5 hurricane is the most potent in terms of wind speed and pressure, surpassing typhoon Ragasa, which lashed east Asia in September and had winds of 267km per hour (166mph), according to the analysed data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Cuba’s Minister of Public Health Jose Angel Portal Miranda has taken to social media to call on his country’s citizens to comply with protective measures in preparation for Hurricane Melissa.

“We continue to monitor the actions being implemented to ensure vitality in #Health services, amid the threat that #Cuba faces from the impending impact of Hurricane Melissa in the eastern part of the country,” he wrote on X.

Here are the latest updates:

• Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, one of the strongest to hit the island nation in modern history.
• The US National Hurricane Center has said “catastrophic winds, flash flooding, and storm surge” are occurring across the western portion of the island.
• Jamaican officials have acknowledged the havoc the storm is likely to bring to the country’s infrastructure, and have launched an emergency relief website.
• Cuba has also begun evacuating residents in the storm’s path. Melissa is expected to make landfall there early on Wednesday.

Jamaica’s prime minister has said the Hurricane Melissa Relief website is now live.

“Hurricane Melissa is a powerful Category 5 storm posing a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of Jamaicans,” Holness said in a post on X.

“In its aftermath, recovery will take every helping hand. Together, let us stand ready to protect and help families recover, rebuild homes and restore livelihoods once the storm passes,” he said.

The website posts the latest news, gives a platform to report incidents, and gives an option to donate to the island’s recovery.

The Hurricane Melissa Relief website is now operational.

Rebuilding Lives. Restoring Hope.

Hurricane Melissa is a powerful Category 5 storm posing a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of Jamaicans. In its aftermath, recovery will take every helping hand. Together, let… pic.twitter.com/Jq3c24XvOQ

— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) October 28, 2025

The National Hurricane Center has given its latest update, saying that Hurricane Melissa is currently crossing over the western flank of Jamaica.

“Catastrophic winds, flash flooding, and storm surge occurring on the island,” it said.

The storm was expected to cut across Jamaica “during the next few hours and then move back into the Caribbean Sea”.

As we reported earlier, Jamaican officials have said some 25,000 tourists are currently on the island.

As they ride out the storm, the prime minister’s office has said that hoteliers are offering “distress rates” and shelter spaces for those stranded.

The office added that airports are awaiting clearance to reopen “as soon as conditions permit”.

Desmond McKenzie, a local government minister in Jamaica, has told Al Jazeera the island nation has done everything possible to prepare for the incoming storm.

“We are prepared, but I don’t know if we can be prepared for a Category 5 hurricane,” he said.

“We have done mitigation work in advance of the hurricane season … all the necessary things are put in place, but Jamaica, I must point out, that we are in the top five disaster countries in the world,” he said.

“We sit on an earthquake fault line, so we know our weaknesses. And we have been experiencing hurricanes for many years. We have had major ones, Gilbert 37 years ago, and just last year, we had a massive Category 4 in Beryl, which did extensive damage to sections of the island,” he said.

“And the section of the island that was badly affected by burial is the area that will be greatly affected again, this time with Melissa,” he said.

Authorities in the eastern Cuban province of Holguin are preparing to evacuate more than 200,000 people.

A similar number of people were also being moved to safety from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed buses transporting evacuees to shelters.

“This phenomenon is very dangerous,” Deputy Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez said in a statement from Banes, where he was located in what appeared to be a shelter. “It is unprecedented.”

Hurricane Melissa is expected to travel across eastern Cuba after passing through Jamaica today.

The US Air Force Reserve 403rd Wing, which oversees hurricane monitoring planes, says that the crew of an aircraft reported “heavy turbulence” while entering the eye of the storm earlier today.

“A 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron crew (call sign TEAL 75), known as Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, is returning to its forward operating location in Curacao after encountering heavy turbulence today while entering the eye of Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm,” a statement shared on social media reads.

“During the event, the aircraft briefly experienced forces stronger than normal due to turbulence.”

pic.twitter.com/MKBl8XRRms

— 403rd Wing (@403rdWing) October 28, 2025

As people search for information about the powerful storm, verification specialists say that fake videos, many of them AI-generated, are being widely shared on social media platforms such as TikTok.

“If you search TikTok for Hurricane Melissa videos right now, you’ll see a flood of AI-generated and fake videos,” Shayan Sardarizadeh, a reporter with BBC Verify, said in a social media post.

“These AI videos include eye of the storm views from above, sharks swimming in floodwaters, huge waves battering towns, destroyed airports, and fake news reports.”

If you search TikTok for Hurricane Melissa videos right now, you'll see a flood of AI-generated and fake videos.

These AI videos include eye of the storm views from above, sharks swimming in floodwaters, huge waves battering towns, destroyed airports, and fake news reports. pic.twitter.com/ZEMeJdb2Dq

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) October 28, 2025

Powell, the Red Cross official, says that people in Jamaica are feeling anxious as they prepare for the storm to make impact.

“There’s a sense of nervousness, because, first, it’s a Category 5, and we’ve never experienced it,” she said.

“Second, the system is moving extremely slow, which means she will sit over us for some time and pour a significant amount of rain. We’re anticipating catastrophic flooding, landslides, storm surges along our coastline areas. So there’s a great deal of concern about what is to come as she approaches Jamaica.”