The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday that Hurricane Melissa, the strongest tropical cyclone this year anywhere in the world, is expected to cause the worst storm impact of this century on Jamaica.
This photo taken on Oct. 28, 2025 shows a gas station damaged by the Hurricane Melissa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. At least seven people were killed across the northern Caribbean as category 5 Hurricane Melissa made landfall Tuesday on the southwestern coast of the island of Jamaica, according to local media reports. (Jamaica Observer/Handout via Xinhua)
The hurricane, a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, made landfall on Tuesday on Jamaica's southwestern coast. At least seven people were killed across the northern Caribbean, local media reported.
The WMO warned of life-threatening winds of nearly 300 km/h, devastating storm surge and rainfall. Millions of people in Jamaica and across the Caribbean could be impacted, the agency said on its website.
Jamaica had not been impacted by such a powerful hurricane since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, WMO tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan said at a United Nations media briefing. Melissa would also affect Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, bringing high levels of rain and strong winds, she said.
The hurricane will bring three times the normal amount of precipitation for a rainy month in Jamaica, potentially up to 700 millimeters, Fontan added.
Some 1.5 million people might be directly impacted and the entire population of Jamaica is affected one way or another, said Necephor Mghendi, the International Red Cross' regional head of delegation for English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
Coastal communities had already been under strain from previous storms, Mghendi said, warning that the rainfall this time could cut off essential services for days, if not weeks.
"The humanitarian threat is severe and immediate," he said, adding that women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities were particularly vulnerable, especially in coastal communities.
The Jamaica Red Cross had mobilized in preparation for Hurricane Melissa, helping with early warning, evacuation and distribution of prepositioned items. The authorities had prepared over 800 shelters, and it was believed that most people had already moved away, Mghendi said.
As Hurricane Melissa has weakened to a Category 3 storm, its core is expected to move over eastern Cuba later Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, move across the southeastern or central Bahamas later on Wednesday, and approach Bermuda Thursday and Thursday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory issued at 0000 GMT Wednesday.
"Residents in Jamaica should remain in a safe shelter. In the warning area in Cuba, residents should seek safe shelter immediately. In the Bahamas, preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the agency warned.
