Hurricane Melissa / the latest.

 

Updated

Oct. 28, 2025, 2:00 p.m. ET33 minutes ago

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/28/weather/hurricane-melissa-jamaica-landfall

 

Judson Jones Nazaneen Ghaffar Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Jovan Johnson The reporting team includes a meteorologist, weather reporters and journalists on the ground in Kingston, Jamaica.

 

Here’s the latest.

Hurricane Melissa has made landfall near New Hope on Jamaica’s southwestern coast as a Category 5 storm, bringing violent winds and significant risks for flash flooding from rain and storm surge as its pushes across the island throughout Tuesday.

 

The hurricane had wind speeds of 185 m.p.h. when it made landfall at noon local time. But it was the storm’s creeping pace that raised fears among forecasters and government officials that saturating rains could set off flash flooding in narrow river valleys and cause deadly landslides in Jamaica’s steep, mountainous topography.

 

By Tuesday night, Melissa will have crossed Jamaica and be approaching Cuba, where it is forecast to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

 

The storm’s rapid intensification this week — with sustained winds stronger than those of Hurricane Katrina at its peak — came with dire warnings from officials. “Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” Desmond McKenzie, the minister coordinating disaster response, said. “Don’t bet against Melissa. It is a bet we can’t win.”

 

More intense than the Category 5 strength of Katrina, which pummeled New Orleans in 2005, Melissa is now the fifth-strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Forecasters were predicting rains measured in feet, not inches, for Jamaica and other Caribbean nations this week. Despite mandatory evacuation orders and warnings about destructive winds, rain and floods, officials in Jamaica were worried that not enough people were heeding evacuation orders.

 

The winds in Melissa’s eye wall were so strong that they could cause “total structural failure” and widespread power and communication outages, the hurricane center said on Monday.

 

At least three people died in connection to preparations for the storm, and thirteen others were injured, Jamaican officials said. But updated totals were expected to be difficult to obtain, given a loss of power and communications caused by the storm.

 

Here’s what else to know:

 

Tracking the storm: Strengthened by Caribbean water temperatures far warmer than usual, Melissa is expected to remain an intensely destructive force throughout the next few days as it passes through the Caribbean, while bypassing the United States.

 

Regional preparations: Nearly 900,000 people have been ordered to evacuate Cuba’s eastern provinces, and the U.S. Navy has ordered personnel into shelters at its base at Guantánamo Bay. As the storm gained strength, eight U.S. Navy warships deployed to the Caribbean as part of a Trump administration campaign against drug traffickers were moved out of its path.

 

Staff shortages: National Weather Service data-gathering and updates continue despite the U.S. government shutdown, because they are considered essential for public safety. But the Weather Service is already operating at reduced staffing after the Trump administration slashed the number of employees at many of the agencies traditionally responsible for planning for and responding to natural disasters.

 

Frances Robles and Francesca Regalado contributed reporting.