By: Staff Writer
October 28, 2025
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica today as a Category 5 storm, the strongest to have ever hit the island nation and the strongest of the 2025 hurricane season.
Melissa doubled in strength over the weekend as it underwent extreme rapid intensification over exceptionally warm water in the Caribbean. This phenomenon is occurring more and more often due to climate change.
For days, Jamaica’s government has been warning its residents and visitors to make preparations ahead of the monster storm’s landfall, and people have been rushing to stock up on food and water to sustain them through what will likely be long-duration power and communication outages due to the storm’s ferocious impacts.
However, fears grew that Melissa’s destructive, 175-mph winds may be too strong for buildings to handle, and officials are warning that those winds could lead to “total structural failure” near the path of Melissa’s powerful core.
The National Hurricane Center’s latest bulletin also said it expects Hurricane Melissa to bring “catastrophic winds, flash flooding and storm surge” for Jamaica when it approaches the island and makes landfall on Tuesday.
Conditions are “deteriorating on Jamaica as extremely dangerous Category 5 Melissa slowly approaches,” the NHC said.
After Jamaica, Melissa is set to move north and potentially make a second landfall in Cuba late tonight or early Wednesday morning. Late Wednesday or early Thursday, it will likely pass over parts of the Bahamas.
The Bahamas is already in storm preparation mode for its southern islands. The country’s Disaster Recovery Management Agency sent out a warning, notifying residents that a Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the Central and Southeast Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Hurricane Melissa is expected to bring strong winds, heavy rain, flooding, and storm surge beginning today in the Southeast Bahamas and spreading into the Central Bahamas on Wednesday.
Evacuation orders remain in effect for Inagua, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, and Ragged Island.
If under order, evacuate immediately and contact your Family Island Administrator for instructions.
Stay tuned to official updates from the DRM Authority and the Bahamas Department of Meteorology.