Hurricane Melissa has left a trail of devastation across the Caribbean, killing more than 30 people and causing widespread destruction as it continues its path toward the Bahamas. The storm, which struck Jamaica on Tuesday as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, is one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded. As of late Wednesday morning, Melissa’s core was about 150 miles south of the central Bahamas and roughly 1,000 miles southwest of Bermuda. A hurricane warning was placed into effect for parts of eastern Cuba, the southeastern and central Bahamas, and Bermuda.
Jamaica endured the full force of Melissa’s 185 mph winds and relentless rain, prompting Prime Minister Andrew Holness to declare the nation a disaster area. The storm crippled infrastructure across the island—flattening homes, uprooting trees, and knocking out power to roughly 77% of the country. “It is really too early for us to say definitively, what’s the damage,” Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said, adding that western Jamaica bore the brunt of the impact.
In Clarendon and St. Elizabeth parishes, officials described entire communities as “under water,” while communication blackouts cut off access to much of the western region. Four hospitals sustained heavy damage, and one was forced to evacuate 75 patients after losing power, according to Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council. The government hopes to reopen airports as soon as Thursday to help deliver emergency aid and relief supplies.
By early Wednesday, the storm had weakened slightly as it made a second landfall in Cuba near the city of Chivirico, striking as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Melissa’s winds had dropped to 120 mph at landfall and later to 100 mph as it moved offshore, though it continued to unleash “damaging winds, flooding rains, and dangerous storm surge” across eastern Cuba.
Officials in Cuba said the hurricane had caused “significant damage” to infrastructure and left around 140,000 residents isolated by rising river levels. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez reported that 735,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm, and said of the widespread destruction that “there will be a lot of work to do. We know there will be a lot of damage,” but assured citizens that “no one is left behind and no resources are spared to protect the lives of the population.
The NHC warned that residents in the Bahamas should “rush to complete” preparations as the storm moved northeast at 14 mph toward the islands. Melissa is forecast to remain a powerful storm as it moves across the Bahamas, then approach Bermuda late Thursday, likely still at hurricane strength. Although it has weakened from its peak, forecasters warned that life-threatening flooding, landslides, and storm surge remain major threats.
The storm has already proven deadly beyond Jamaica and Cuba. According to CNN, at least 25 people have died in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, after a river flooded by Melissa burst its banks, with three others killed earlier in Haiti. Another three died in Jamaica during storm preparations, and one person died in the Dominican Republic.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said federal officials were “in close contact with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and The Bahamas as they confront the devastating impacts” of the hurricane. “We have rescue and response teams heading to affected areas along with critical lifesaving supplies,” he said, adding, “Our prayers are with the people of the Caribbean.”
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