Hurricane Melissa: A Trail of Destruction Across the Caribbean

Thu Oct 30 2025 17:55:53 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Hurricane Melissa wreaks havoc in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti, leaving fatalities and extensive property damage in its wake.

Hurricane Melissa has caused widespread devastation across the Caribbean, particularly in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. At least 32 lives have been lost due to the hurricane's brutal impact, which included record-breaking wind speeds. The aftermath of the storm has left many communities cut off, with extensive property damage reported. Efforts to address the disaster are underway, with authorities cautioning residents to remain vigilant as recovery efforts begin.

The scale of devastation left by Hurricane Melissa is becoming clear after the record-setting storm tore through Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba, leaving at least 32 people dead.

Although downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 1 storm, Melissa gathered speed as it swept through the Bahamas on Thursday and is expected to make landfall in Bermuda later.

The strongest storm to strike the Caribbean island in modern history, the hurricane sustained winds of 298 km/h (185 mph) at its peak - stronger than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, killing 1,392 people.

The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) reported sustained winds of 165km/h at 09:00 GMT on Thursday.

It warned of possible coastal flooding as the storm accelerated northeastward. Authorities in the Bahamas have since lifted hurricane warnings for the central and southern islands, as well as for the Turks and Caicos.

The country's Minister of State for Disaster Risk Management, Leon Lundy, urged residents to remain vigilant, saying: Even a weakened hurricane retains the capacity to bring serious devastation.
Nearly 1,500 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas in what officials described as one of the largest operations in Bahamian history.

While flooding has disrupted parts of the archipelago, the ministry of tourism said the majority of the country - including Nassau, Freeport, Eleuthera, and the Abacos - remained largely unaffected and open to visitors.

Across the wider Caribbean, Melissa's powerful winds have torn apart homes and buildings, uprooted trees, and left tens of thousands without power. In Cuba, residents of the country's second-largest city Santiago de Cuba worked with machetes to clear streets buried in debris. President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the hurricane had caused considerable damage but did not provide a casualty figure.

In Jamaica, the impact was most severe in the southwestern parish of St Elizabeth, where knee-deep mud and washed-out bridges left towns such as Black River cut off. On the road west out of the capital Kingston, minimal damage was visible; however, in central Jamaica the devastation was apparent, with petrol stations losing roofs and communication severed in many areas.

Haiti, already in turmoil, suffered at least 23 deaths - 10 of them children - due to flooding from relentless rain despite the country avoiding a direct hit.

The storm is also responsible for at least eight deaths in Jamaica and one in the Dominican Republic, officials have reported.

The NHC expects floodwaters across the Bahamas to subside, but the hazardous conditions in Cuba and Jamaica are likely to persist for several days.