Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds, becoming the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began 174 years ago. The storm has killed at least 30 people across the Caribbean and is now heading toward the Bahamas as a Category 2 hurricane.
Florida will be spared a direct hit from the powerful storm. Forecasters say no direct impacts are expected in the United States at this time, though indirect impacts such as rip currents and hazardous sea conditions will be possible mid-to-late next week.
The storm demolished Jamaica’s infrastructure Tuesday afternoon, tearing roofs off buildings, snapping power poles in half, and leaving 77 percent of the island without electricity. Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a disaster area.
“We know that it’s western Jamaica that has the brunt of the impact. We will have to give you that in the coming days,” Jamaican Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said at a press conference Wednesday morning.
Nearly 15,000 people were in shelters in Jamaica and some 540,000 customers remain without power. Jamaican officials said Wednesday the government “was not in a position to speak” about a death toll related to the storm because it did not have “reports of deaths so far,” though at least three people died in Jamaica during storm preparations earlier in the week.
Melissa’s 185 mph winds and 892 millibars of central pressure tied two records for the strongest Atlantic storm at landfall. The pressure tied the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in Florida, while the wind speed tied the 1935 hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian.
The storm made a second landfall in Cuba early Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds. More than 735,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as Melissa approached.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Melissa moved off Cuba and entered the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds, heading toward the Bahamas at 14 mph.
The southeastern Bahamas can expect 5 to 10 inches of rain and a storm surge of 5 to 8 feet. The hurricane is forecast to track between or potentially over Long Island and Crooked Island later Wednesday afternoon and evening. The storm is then expected to pass close to Bermuda on Thursday night.
Despite a significant impact on communications systems and air travel, early reports indicate that major population centers in Jamaica, including the capital city of Kingston, have avoided widespread casualties.
The U.S. State Department has committed support to recovery efforts across Caribbean countries hit by Hurricane Melissa. U.S. Southern Command said it is sending a team to assess the damage. There are currently 10,000 troops deployed in the region, including eight Navy ships in the Caribbean Sea.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and the most powerful storm of the year. The storm formed in the Caribbean and was tracked closely by the National Hurricane Center, which provided about 36 hours of lead time that the storm would intensify into a Category 5 storm.
For the first time in 10 years, the East Coast of the United States has been spared a direct hit from a hurricane in 2025, and forecasters’ models suggest that it is likely to avoid Melissa as well.