Hurricane Melissa Recap: Catastrophic Jamaica Category 5 Landfall; Damage From Hispaniola To Cuba, Bahamas

Hurricane Melissa made a historic, catastrophic Category 5 landfall in Jamaica, then raked by way of southeastern Cuba and the southeastern Bahamas earlier than swiping Bermuda, whereas it additionally wreak out days of prolific, flooding rainfall in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

A complete of 95 individuals have been killed by Melissa in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Melissa’s Genesis

Melissa started as a tropical wave that moved west off the coast of Africa. Five days earlier than it might change into Melissa, the National Hurricane Center first assigned it odds of tropical improvement on Oct. 16. NOAA issued outlooks suggesting tropical cyclone formation as early as three weeks prematurely.

The tropical wave reached the Windward Islands and jap Caribbean Sea by Oct. 19, slowly changing into extra organized. It was given the tag “Invest 98L,” a naming convention the NHC makes use of to establish techniques that would develop, permitting extra refined hurricane fashions to be run.

Up till this level, the Caribbean Sea had not seen a named storm at all in the seasonbut it surely was trying possible that Melissa was going to kind.

And that got here simply a few days later when the NHC named Tropical Storm Melissa on Oct. 21 at 2 am EDT, the thirteenth storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.

That was roughly on par with the typical date of the thirteenth storm from 1991 by way of 2020 (Oct. 25), in response to the NHC. It’s additionally one storm shy of the typical variety of storms for a complete season, 14.

Explosive Growth

At first, Melissa was sluggish to develop as she moved very slowly to the west, and her middle reformed in numerous spots. But because it approached the warmest waters of the Caribbean, the state of affairs modified rapidly.

Wind shear that had been placing a cap on its improvement weakened, and the storm absolutely utilized the nice and cozy Caribbean water as gasoline.

Melissa then went from a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph at 7 am on Oct. 25 to winds of 130 mph simply 24 hours later.

And Melissa wasn’t achieved there.

The storm strengthened additional and reached Category 5 power at 7 am on Oct. 27, the third Category 5 hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane seasonas lightning lit up the hurricane’s eyewall. At least 600 lightning flashes have been recorded in half-hour.

(MORE: Rapid Intensification Is More Common Than You Think)

And it nonetheless wasn’t achieved strengthening.

As the storm turned towards Jamaica, it continued to accentuate, reaching most sustained winds of 190 mph.

Melissa maintained Category 5 standing for 30 straight hours because it made its sluggish, agonizing flip northward towards Jamaica. According to WPLG-TV hurricane skilled Michael Lowry, only four other Atlantic hurricanes spent as much time or more at Category 5 intensity.

Melissa was the strongest tropical cyclone anyplace on Earth in 2025, even stronger than any western or jap Pacific storm or hurricane, respectively.

A Storm For The History Books

Melissa made landfall in Jamaica at Category 5 depth at 1:25 pm EDT on Oct. 28.

Not solely was it Jamaica’s most intense hurricane landfall on report, however Melissa tied for the strongest Atlantic Basin landfall on report with most sustained winds of 185 mph, however by stress, it’s the second lowest landfall stress, tied with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (892 mb).

It was additionally the primary Category 5 landfall anyplace within the Atlantic Basin since Dorian slammed the northwestern Bahamas starting on Sept. 1, 2019.

Melissa additionally tied for the strongest Atlantic Basin hurricane primarily based on peak winds, tied with 1980’s Hurricane Allen. Only Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 have been stronger, by stress, than Melissa at her peak.

(MORE: Where Melissa Ranked In History)

Jamaica’s Impacts

Impacts have been notably devastating for Jamaica because the Category 5 hurricane was additionally slow-moving upon landfall. Outer bands of the storm lashed the nation, and tropical-storm-force winds have been ongoing because the storm initially moved west by way of the Caribbean simply south of the island.

But then the storm turned north and slowly churned towards Jamaica, simply because the NHC predicted.

Conditions deteriorated because the wind and rain elevated and the storm’s strongest winds, torrential rainfall and highly effective storm surge notably impacted the western a part of the island. More than 32 inches of rain fell in Knock Patrick, Jamaica, and a storm surge of seven to 11 toes is estimated simply east of landfall.

As of February 2026, 45 persons are identified to have been killed by Melissa on the island.

(WATCH: Melissa Makes Landfall In Jamaica)

The day after landfall noticed over 25,000 individuals packed into shelters after Melissa’s sheer energy destroyed individuals’s houses. Up to 77% of the island was with out energy after landfall.

The southwestern Jamaican metropolis of Black River — dwelling to about 5,000 individuals — was in determined want of help.

Santa Cruz in Jamaica’s St. Elizabeth Parish noticed a landslide that turned streets into mud pits. Residents tried to guard their houses by sweeping out water, as winds pulled off a part of the roof at a neighborhood highschool that was getting used as a shelter.

A landslide blocked the principle roads of Santa Cruz, the place the streets have been diminished to mud pits. Residents swept water from houses as they tried to salvage belongings.

Daryl Vaz, the Jamaican Transportation Minister, stated two of the island’s airports reopened for aid flights solely. United Nations businesses and nonprofits are on standby to assist present fundamental items to these in want.

Western Jamaica’s Westmoreland Parish additionally noticed quite a few studies of broken houses and buildings.

(PHOTOS: Destruction In Jamaica After Melissa)

Hispaniola

While the landfall focus was on Jamaica, Hispaniola was soaked with spherical after spherical of domestically heavy rainfall for 9 days throughout this Melissa saga.

Rainfall totals throughout southern elements of Haiti have been the worst because the slow-moving Melissa continued to churn moisture into the area. One spot in western Haiti picked up 36 inches of rain throughout the relentless onslaught.

Rainfall throughout this space is very devastating as a consequence of Haiti’s geography, so flash flooding and quite a few landslides happen with rainfall of this amount in such a brief time period.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency stated Hurricane Melissa killed at the least 20 individuals, together with 10 kids, in Petit-Goâve, the place greater than 160 houses have been broken and 80 others destroyed. A complete of 43 individuals died in Haiti and 4 extra died within the Dominican Republic.

(MORE: Melissa Compounds Haiti’s Misery)

Cuba

The mountains of Jamaica drastically disrupted the middle of the storm. A really clear eye had been seen at landfall however was rapidly stuffed in because the mountains shredded the tight and well-defined eye.

By the time the storm moved off of Jamaica only a few hours later, the winds had dropped to 145 mph.

But simply because the storm weakened barely, the threats have been removed from over for Cuba.

Melissa made her second landfall earlier than dawn on Oct. 29 in far southeastern Cuba. According to the NHC, the Category 3 hurricane with most sustained winds of 120 mph got here ashore close to the city of Chivirico round 3:10 am EDT. Guantanamo Bay reported wind gusts as much as 75 mph earlier on Oct. 29.

It was the nation’s strongest landfall since 2016’s Matthew.

The storm was transferring quicker than when it impacted Jamaica, however rainfall totals nonetheless exceeded two toes, and highly effective wind gusts and storm surges to 12 toes have been forecast.

About 735,000 individuals have been evacuated to shelters earlier than Melissa arrived. Officials in Cuba reported collapsed homes, blocked mountain roads and roofs blown off buildings. The city of El Cobre within the jap province of Santiago de Cuba was one of many hardest hit.

One individual was killed in Cuba.

Bahamas, Then Bermuda

After transferring off Cuba the afternoon of Oct. 29, Melissa plowed by way of the southeastern Bahamas at Category 2 depth, bringing hurricane-force winds and rainfall as much as 10 inches. The Turks and Caicos noticed tropical-storm-force winds and three inches of rainfall.

Among the toughest hit have been Acklins and Crooked islands, the place a personal climate station reported sustained winds of 76 mph and a wind gust of 85 mph. Some homes on Crooked Island were flattened and roads have been blocked by particles and sand.

Bermuda was then grazed by Melissa on Oct. 30 into the early-morning hours of Oct. 31. Winds gust to 69 mph at LF Wade International Airport, whereas an elevated climate station on the National Museum of Bermuda clocked at 98-mph gust as Melissa made its closest go.

Coincidentally, Bermuda was hit by Category 2 Hurricane Imelda on the evening of Oct. 1, then was swiped by Melissa close to the top of the month.

This report was up to date on February 25 with knowledge from the National Hurricane Center’s ultimate report on Hurricane Melissa.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.