- - Hurricane Melissa barrels over Cuba after hammering Jamaica: Live updates

Thao Nguyen, Dinah Voyles Pulver and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAYOctober 29, 2025 at 6:29 AM

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Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba overnight and was churning over the country on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm as authorities in Jamaica began surveying the extensive damage left in its wake after the storm made landfall on the country's southwestern coast as the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.

Melissa reached Jamaica as an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, bringing damaging winds, catastrophic flash flooding and landslides across Jamaica on Tuesday. The storm caused widespread infrastructure damage, including power and communication outages that left hundreds of thousands of residents in the dark.

Parishes across Jamaica reported heavy floodwaters, blocked roads and fallen trees and utility poles, according to Desmond McKenzie, the island's minister of local government and community development. The parish of St. Elizabeth was submerged by flooding, and its only public hospital lost power and reported severe damage to one of its buildings.

Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.

" style=padding-bottom:56%>The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.

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The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.

">The National Hurricane Center reports Melissa has strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean on Oct. 25 and could soon rapidly intensify into a monstrous Category 4 or 5 storm, bringing perilous threats of rain, winds and storm surge to northern Caribbean islands.A drone view shows a vehicle driving along a flooded street amid rain caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 24, 2025.

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1 / 23Hurricane Melissa slams the Caribbean. See the floods and impact on residents in photosA resident stands at a flooded section of Port Royal in Kingston on Oct. 27, 2025. Hurricane Melissa threatened Jamaica with potentially deadly rains after rapidly intensifying into a top-level Category 5 storm, as residents scrambled for shelter from what could be the island's most violent weather on record. Melissa has already been blamed for at least four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and was set to unleash torrential rains on parts of Jamaica in a direct hit on the Caribbean island.

The International Federation of the Red Cross previously said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica were expected to be directly affected by the storm. About 15,000 people were in temporary shelters by late Tuesday, according to McKenzie. The government had issued mandatory evacuation orders for around 28,000 people.

At least seven hurricane-related deaths have been reported across the Caribbean, including three each in Jamaica and Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic. McKenzie said on Tuesday that officials were praying for no deaths on the island, but conditions were still too severe for assessments to be completed.

After making landfall in Jamaica, the hurricane weakened as it churned toward eastern Cuba before restrengthening into a powerful Category 4, according to the National Hurricane Center. It made landfall at about 3:10 a.m. ET Wednesday in the Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba, the hurricane center said. As of 5 a.m., its maximum sustained winds were 115 mph, making it a Category 3 storm as it moves over eastern Cuba.

Melissa is expected to sweep across the southeastern and central Bahamas on Wednesday.

Hurricane Melissa restrengthened to Category 4 before making landfall in Cuba

Melissa restrengthened to a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Cuba for landfall, the hurricane center said. The agency warned in its 11 p.m. ET advisory that Melissa was expected to make landfall in Cuba as an "extremely dangerous major hurricane."

By 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph — up from 125 mph earlier in the night. A hurricane warning was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin, and Las Tunas, as well as the southeastern and central Bahamas.

More than 735,000 people were evacuated in Cuba by Tuesday night, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a social media post. In the Bahamas, next in Melissa's path to the northeast, the government ordered evacuations of residents in southern portions of that archipelago.

"There will be a lot of work to do. We know that this cyclone will cause significant damage," Diaz-Canel said in a message published in the state newspaper Granma.

President Trump, Miami Heat, others pledge support to Jamaica amid Hurricane Melissa

In preparation for Melissa, the Jamaican government called for foreign aid. On Monday, Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew said the government had an emergency budget of $33 million and insurance and credit provisions for damages.

President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, South Korea, and said they were monitoring the situation closely and would be prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to Jamaica. "We're prepared to move," the president said.

He expressed surprise at Melissa's high winds. "I've never seen numbers like that. I saw it a little while ago. 195 mile an hour wind," he said. "I guess it can get that high, but I've never seen it."

Hours before its Tuesday game against the Charlotte Hornets, the Miami Heat announced that, in partnership with the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation and Carnival Cruise Line, it would make a $1 million donation to assist with recovery efforts following the hurricane.

World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides food relief, said in a statement that it was in Jamaica ahead of the landfall and was "working with local partners to begin serving meals as quickly as possible to families impacted by the storm."

Contributing: Reuters

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