Hurricane Melissa formed from a tropical wave off the coast of the Cabo Verde Islands on Oct. 16, 2025. After moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean at 14 mph, the system strengthened into a tropical storm on October 21, 2025, in the southern Caribbean Sea, with sustained winds reaching 50 mph.
After its classification as a tropical storm, Melissa moved toward the Greater Antilles. By Oct. 23, maximum winds had reached 65 mph, with its outer bands already impacting islands such as Jamaica and Hispaniola. Although the storm had not yet made landfall in these islands, authorities including Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) issued tropical storm warnings due to risks of flash floods, landslides and strong winds.
On Oct. 24, the system remained nearly stationary about 165 miles southeast of Jamaica’s capital, Kingston. Despite its slow movement, it intensified over the Caribbean’s warm waters. By 3 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Oct. 25, Melissa reached Category One status with sustained winds exceeding 90 mph.
By midday on Oct. 25, Melissa had travelled to about 130 miles southeast of Kingston, with sustained winds of over 110 mph, intensifying into a Category Two hurricane as it slowly moved through the Caribbean Sea. In preparation for the storm, ODPEM issued mandatory evacuations for Port Royal, Kingston; Portland Cottage and Rocky Point in Clarendon; Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine; and New Haven, Riverton City and Taylor Land in St. Andrew. However, the storm’s trajectory shifted it west, now placing areas like St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland Parishes directly in its path.
By 3 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Oct. 26, Hurricane Melissa reached Category Three status, with sustained winds exceeding 110 mph. Continuing to intensify rapidly, the storm reached Category Five status by around midday, when it made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, with sustained winds of over 180 mph, making it the strongest hurricane to ever hit the island.
The hurricane travelled north over western Jamaica for approximately 18 hours, eventually moving back into the Caribbean in the late afternoon hours of Oct. 28. It caused widespread devastation, including severe damage or complete loss of more than 1,000 homes—particularly in St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland Parishes—roads blocked due to downed power lines, landslides, debris and country-wide outages. Floodwaters reached up to 16 feet in low lying areas such as the Black River and the Savanna La Mar, while agricultural farms suffered from crop losses, including sugarcane, bananas, and coffee.
In the evening hours of Oct. 28, the ODPEM and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) began coordinating search-and-rescue operations, prioritizing the most affected areas. Emergency shelters were established in various parishes in Middlesex County, the central region of Jamaica, to accommodate displaced residents and provide food, water and other essential supplies. In the end, a total of four people lost their lives in the country.
When the storm re-entered the Caribbean Sea, its winds decreased by over 40 mph. By about 3 a.m. UTC On Oct. 29, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba near the town of Chivirico in Santiago de Cuba province as a Category Three storm. Additionally, it brought torrential rains of up to 20 inches and winds of up to 130 mph. The town of El Cobre was particularly affected, with many homes losing roofs and the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity sustaining damage to its woodwork.
Over 730,000 people had been evacuated from the region, but many remained in the storm’s path. Consequently, the Cuban Civil Defence (Defensa Civil de Cuba) and the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) coordinated clean-up efforts, focusing on urgent repairs to infrastructure—including downed power lines and fiber optic telecommunication cables, destroyed roads, and damaged houses and buildings—and the establishment of emergency shelters in Santo de Cuba province.
By 2 p.m. on Oct. 29, Hurricane Melissa had exited Cuba from the northeastern province of Las Tunas. It had weakened to a Category Two storm, with sustained winds of up to 100 mph. Later that day, the hurricane skirted across the southeastern Bahamas, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the region. Additionally, the Turks and Caicos Islands to the east also experienced tropical storm conditions.
On October 30, the storm weakened to a Category One hurricane. It is currently moving northeast, traveling at a speed of 15 mph. The storm is also expected to pass 685 miles west of Bermuda. Authorities continue to monitor the remnants of the storm, tracking any potential changes in its path.