Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared Jamaica a “catastrophe space” after Hurricane Melissa barrelled throughout the Caribbean island as one of the highly effective storms on document, abandoning a path of devastation.
The hurricane – which made landfall as a Class 5 storm on Tuesday – ripped off the roofs of houses, inundated the nation’s “bread basket”, and felled energy strains and timber, leaving most of its 2.8 million individuals with out electrical energy.
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Melissa took hours to cross over Jamaica, a passage over land that diminished its winds, dropping it all the way down to a Class 3 storm, earlier than it ramped again up because it continued on Wednesday in direction of Cuba.
Holness mentioned in a collection of posts on X that the storm has “ravaged” his nation and the catastrophe declaration offers his authorities “instruments to proceed managing” its response to the storm.
“It’s clear that the place the attention of the hurricane hit, there could be devastating impression,” he instructed america information channel CNN late on Tuesday. “Experiences we now have had thus far embody harm to hospitals, important harm to residential property, housing and industrial property as properly, and harm to our highway infrastructure.”
Holness mentioned he doesn’t have any confirmed stories of deaths in the meanwhile. “However with a Class 5 hurricane, … we predict some lack of life,” he added.
The prime minister mentioned his authorities was mobilising shortly to begin reduction and restoration efforts by Wednesday morning.
Even earlier than Melissa slammed into Jamaica, seven deaths – three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one within the Dominican Republic – have been attributable to the hurricane.
Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s native authorities minister, instructed reporters on Tuesday night that the storm had prompted harm throughout virtually each parish within the nation and left a lot of the island with out electrical energy.
He mentioned the storm had put the parish of St Elizabeth, the nation’s foremost agricultural area, “beneath water”.
“The harm to St Elizabeth is in depth, primarily based on what we now have seen,” the minister mentioned, including that “virtually each parish is experiencing blocked roads, fallen timber and utility poles, and extra flooding in lots of communities.”
“Work is presently on the best way to revive our service, to provide priorities to the essential services, resembling hospitals and water and pumping stations,” he added.
The storm prompted “important harm” to at the very least 4 hospitals, Well being and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton instructed the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.
A roof was utterly torn off a constructing at a piece of the Savanna La Mar Public Common Hospital because of the passage of Hurricane Melissa. The system made landfall earlier immediately close to New Hope district in Westmoreland, Jamaica. #GLNRToday #TrackingMelissa pic.twitter.com/zBnm9bu4Oq
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) October 28, 2025
‘Monstrous Melissa’
Robian Williams, a journalist with the Nationwide Information Community radio broadcaster in Kingston, instructed Al Jazeera that the storm was the “worst we’ve ever skilled”.
“It’s actually heartbreaking, devastating,” she mentioned from the capital.
“We’re calling Hurricane Melissa ‘Monstrous Melissa’ right here in Jamaica as a result of that’s how highly effective she was. … The devastation is widespread, principally being felt and nonetheless being felt within the western ends of the nation at this time limit. So many houses, so many individuals have been displaced,” she mentioned.
“We did put together, however there wasn’t a lot that we might have carried out.”
Trout Corridor Rd, Clarendon#TrackingMelissa #HurricaneMelissa #Jamaica @CVMTV pic.twitter.com/bTop93pOvp
— Giovanni R. Dennis (@GiovanniRDennis) October 28, 2025
In Kingston, Lisa Sangster, a 30-year-old communications specialist, mentioned her house was devastated by the storm.
“My sister … defined that components of our roof was blown off and different components caved in and your complete home was flooded,” she instructed the AFP information company. “Outdoors buildings like our out of doors kitchen, canine kennel and farm animal pens have been additionally gone, destroyed.”
Mathue Tapper, 31, instructed AFP that these within the capital have been “fortunate” however he feared for individuals in Jamaica’s extra rural areas.
“My coronary heart goes out to the oldsters residing on the western finish of the island,” he mentioned.
Melissa restrengthens
The US Nationwide Hurricane Heart warned on Tuesday night time that Melissa was restrengthening because it approached japanese Cuba.
“Anticipated to make landfall there as a particularly harmful main hurricane within the subsequent few hours,” the centre warned at 11pm Cuba time on Tuesday (03:00 GMT on Wednesday).
Authorities in Cuba have evacuated greater than 700,000 individuals, in line with Granma, the official newspaper, and forecasters mentioned the Class 4 storm would unleash catastrophic harm in Santiago de Cuba and close by areas.
A hurricane warning was in impact for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas in addition to for the southeastern and central Bahamas. A hurricane watch was in impact for Bermuda.
The storm was anticipated to generate a storm surge of as much as 3.6 metres (12ft) within the area and drop as much as 51cm (20 inches) of rain in components of japanese Cuba.
“There will probably be a whole lot of work to do. We all know there will probably be a whole lot of harm,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel mentioned in a televised deal with wherein he assured that “nobody is left behind and no assets are spared to guard the lives of the inhabitants”.
On the similar time, he urged Cubans to not underestimate the facility of Hurricane Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit nationwide territory”.
Local weather change
Though Jamaica and Cuba are used to hurricanes, climate change is making the storms extra extreme.
British-Jamaican local weather change activist and creator Mikaela Loach mentioned in a video shared on social media that Melissa “gained vitality from the extraordinarily and unnaturally hot seas within the Caribbean”.
“These sea temperatures usually are not pure,” Loach mentioned. “They’re extraordinarily sizzling due to the gasses which have resulted from burning fossil fuels.”
“International locations like Jamaica, nations which are most weak to local weather catastrophe are additionally nations which have had their wealth and assets stripped away from them via colonial bondage,” Loach added.
Talking on the United Nations Common Meeting in September, Holness urged rich nations to extend local weather financing to help nations like Jamaica with adapting to the consequences of a warming world.
“Local weather change shouldn’t be a distant menace or an instructional consideration. It’s a day by day actuality for small island growing states like Jamaica,” he mentioned.
Jamaica is liable for simply 0.02 % of world greenhouse gasoline emissions, which trigger world warming, in line with information from the World Sources Institute.
However like different tropical islands, it’s anticipated to proceed to bear the brunt of worsening local weather results.
