Hurricane Melissa intensified to a strong Class 5 storm early Monday, prompting warnings of intense flooding and devastation throughout the Caribbean, together with Jamaica, Haiti and the southeastern Bahamas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) mentioned.
Jamaica sits immediately within the hurricane’s path, proper because it reaches its highest power.
Hurricane Melissa is the strongest storm of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season, Chief World Information Meteorologist Anthony Farnell mentioned. “It reached Class 5 power early Monday morning and continues to accentuate,” he added.
“Sadly, there may be nearly zero likelihood that Melissa misses Jamaica,” mentioned Farnell.
The NHC is urging folks in Jamaica to hunt shelter, as damaging hurricane situations are anticipated to start Monday night time or early Tuesday.
Peak storm surge heights may attain three to 4 metres above floor stage, the company added. As of Monday morning, swirling winds prolonged as much as 315 kilometres from the attention of the storm.
Melissa is predicted to convey 38 to 76 centimetres of rain throughout elements of Jamaica, with as much as 102 centimetres potential in some areas. Catastrophic flash flooding and quite a few landslides are additionally doubtless, together with extreme infrastructure injury to main roads and highways that Farnell says may result in weeks-long closures.
“The one bit of excellent information is that the most recent observe brings these strongest winds (250km/h+) and worst storm surge (3 to 4 metres) west, to a much less populated a part of Jamaica,” he added.
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Wind speeds are anticipated to be 30 per cent larger in mountainous areas. On Monday morning, most sustained floor winds had been close to 260 kilometres per hour.
Jamaica’s two main airports shut down over the weekend, together with Sangster Worldwide Airport in Montego Bay and Norman Manley Worldwide Airport within the capital, Kingston, the place hurricane situations may last as long as 24 hours.
Roads resulting in and from the Kingston airport are notably uncovered to robust winds and waves.
Jamaica’s minister of native authorities and group improvement, Desmond McKenzie, mentioned on Sunday night time that 218 folks had been already in a number of the nation’s 881 shelters, NBC News reported.
Greater than 650 shelters had been activated in Jamaica. Officers mentioned warehouses throughout the island had been well-stocked and 1000’s of meals packages had been pre-positioned for fast distribution if wanted.
The lingering storm will depart little time for restoration, Jamaican authorities have warned.
“With the gradual motion of this technique, it doesn’t let you recuperate. It’s going to sit down there, pouring water whereas it’s barely transferring and that may be a vital problem that now we have to pay attention to,” Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, mentioned.
Hurricane Melissa’s projected path by the Caribbean.
World Information
“The pending influence of Melissa shouldn’t be one thing as a rustic we should always take calmly,” McKenzie said on Saturday, including that it’s the duty of the federal government to make sure that Jamaicans are protected and adjust to emergency orders.
Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding is forecast to hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic by midweek, the NHC warned. In the meantime, Cuba is bracing for heavy rain, flooding and landslides.
The southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands are additionally on a excessive alert, with hurricane watches in place.
Haitian authorities say three folks have already died as a consequence of the hurricane and one other 5 had been injured resulting from a collapsed wall.
Staff board up store home windows forward of Hurricane Melissa’s forecast arrival in Kingston, Jamaica, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025.
(AP Picture/Matias Delacroix)
The storm broken practically 200 houses within the Dominican Republic over the weekend, knocking out water provide techniques and affecting greater than half 1,000,000 prospects.
Farnell famous that this would be the first Class 4 or stronger storm to hit the island within the trendy period. “The truth that the storm might be hitting from the south makes it much more damaging,” he warned, although Jamaica’s excessive terrain will pressure the storm to weaken “considerably.”
Melissa is the thirteenth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The U.S. Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
— With information from The Related Press
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