Melissa is expected to intensify and become a devastating hurricane as it makes landfall in Jamaica.
Published October 26, 2025
Hurricane Melissa has rapidly strengthened to become a Category 3 major with potentially devastating impacts, bringing torrential rains to the northern Caribbean and threatening catastrophic flooding and landslides in Jamaica and southern Haiti.
U.S. forecasters warned Saturday that the limp Melissa is expected to strengthen as it makes landfall in Jamaica in the next day or two.
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“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a statement. “Please take all steps to protect yourself.”
As of late Saturday night, Melissa was centered about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 455 kilometers (280 miles) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The hurricane center said maximum sustained winds were 185 km/h (115 mph).
Jamaican authorities announced Saturday that they would close Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport. He did not say whether Montego Bay’s Sangster Airport, on the west side of the island, would be closed.
More than 650 evacuation centers were operational in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island are fully stocked and thousands of food packages are pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.
Melissa is expected to dump up to 76 centimeters (30 inches) of heavy rain on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the hurricane center said.
It should be near or over Cuba by midweek. The Cuban government issued a hurricane warning for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin on Saturday afternoon.
The volatile, slow-moving storm has left at least three people dead in Haiti, a fourth dead and another missing in the Dominican Republic.
“Unfortunately for areas along the predicted path of this storm, things are becoming increasingly dire,” Jamie Rome, the center’s deputy director, said early Saturday. He said the storm would continue to move slowly for up to four days.
In Haiti, there were reports of rising river levels, flooding, and the destruction of bridges due to river banks bursting in Sainte-Suzanne in the northeast.
Ronald Delis, head of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, said there was “great concern about the progress of the storm” as local authorities organized lines to distribute food kits. Many residents remain reluctant to leave their homes.
The storm damaged nearly 200 homes and destroyed water systems in the Dominican Republic, affecting more than 500,000 customers. It also toppled trees and traffic lights, caused several small landslides, and left more than 20 communities stranded by flooding.
The Bahamas Bureau of Meteorology announced that Melissa could bring tropical storm and hurricane conditions to the southeastern and central Bahamas islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
