Hurricane Melissa live updates: No official death toll in Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica.

ByJack Moore, David Brennan, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: October 30, 2025, 10:54 PM EDT

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.

After lashing Jamaica with dangerous winds and flooding rain, Melissa made a second landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning. Melissa then moved through the Bahamas, and next, on Thursday night, the storm will pass Bermuda as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.

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Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 26, 2025, 7:19 PM EDT

Melissa could be strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica in more than 35 years

Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm, producing maximum sustained wind speeds of 145 mph.

If it maintains its strength, it could become the strongest hurricane to make landfall over the island since the National Hurricane Center started keeping records.

PHOTO: Jamaicans make preparations ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Melissa
A person watches waves crash on the beach, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Melissa, in Port Royal, Jamaica, October 26, 2025. REUTERS/Octavio Jones
Octavio Jones/Reuters

The strongest hurricane on record to make landfall over Jamaica was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130 mph.

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