Somewhat weakened but still threatening, Melissa will bring damaging winds and flooding rains to the Bahamas Wednesday before moving on to Bermuda late Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
"In the Bahamas, residents should remain sheltered," it said, while in Bermuda, "preparations should be underway and be completed before anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds."
As Melissa left Cuban shores, residents started assessing their losses, with President Miguel Diaz-Canel quantifying the damage as "extensive."
In the east of the communist island battling its worst economic crisis in decades, people struggled through flooded and collapsed homes and inundated streets.
The storm smashed windows, downed power cables and mobile communications, and ripped off roofs and tree branches.
Cuban authorities said some 735,000 people had been evacuated -- mainly in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Guantanamo.
In Santiago de Cuba, homemaker Mariela Reyes, 55, recounted how violent winds lifted the roof off her humble dwelling and dumped it a block away.
She managed to save her TV set and a few small appliances from her flooded home.
"It's not easy to lose... the little you have," Reyes told AFP.
- 'Disaster area' -
Pope Leo offered prayers from the Vatican, while the United States said it was in contact with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
"We have rescue and response teams heading to affected areas along with critical lifesaving supplies," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X, without mentioning ideological foe Cuba.
The UK government announced GBP 2.5 million (about $3.3 million) in emergency funding for the region.
In Jamaica, where some parts are still recovering from Hurricane Beryl last year, UN resident coordinator Dennis Zulu told reporters Melissa had brought "tremendous, unprecedented devastation of infrastructure, of property, roads, network connectivity."
Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the tropical island famed for tourism a "disaster area."
Many homes were destroyed and about 25,000 people sought refuge in shelters.
"Our teams are on the ground working tirelessly to rescue, restore, and bring relief where it's needed most... To every Jamaican, hold strong. We will rebuild, we will recover," Holness said on X.
Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon told CNN officials had been unable to confirm reports of deaths "because we have not been able to get to some of the hardest hit areas."
She added work was ongoing to reopen the airport at Montego Bay so an estimated 25,000 tourists caught in the storm "will soon be able to leave if they need to."
- 'Everything is gone' -
At least 20 people in southern Haiti, including 10 children, were killed in floods caused as the hurricane shaved past earlier in the week, according to civil defense agency head Emmanuel Pierre.
Ten more were missing.
"People have been killed, houses have been swept away by the water," resident Steeve Louissaint told AFP in the coastal town of Petit-Goave, where the Digue River burst its banks.
Hurricane Melissa tied the 1935 record for the most intense storm ever to make landfall when it battered Jamaica on Tuesday, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In Seaford Town, farmer and businessman Christopher Hacker saw his restaurant and nearby banana plantations flattened.
"Everything is gone," he told AFP. "It will take a lot to recover from this."
- 'A brutal reminder' -
The full extent of Melissa's damage is not yet clear. A comprehensive assessment could take days with communications networks disrupted across the region.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said such mega-storms "are a brutal reminder of the urgent need to step up climate action on all fronts, as they bring massive human and economic costs in every part of the world, and those costs grow faster and bigger each year."
Due to climate change, warmer sea surface temperatures inject more energy into storms, boosting their intensity with stronger winds and more precipitation.
"Human-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse," said climate scientist Daniel Gilford.
20 dead after Hurricane Melissa rakes Haiti: officials
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Oct 29, 2025 -
Flooding in Haiti triggered by Hurricane Melissa has left at least 20 people dead and 10 others missing, authorities in the Caribbean island-nation told AFP on Wednesday.
Ten children were among those who died in river floods in the country's south, said Emmanuel Pierre, who heads the country's civil defense agency.
Emergency responders were conducting searches for the missing, he added.
The flooding of the Digue River destroyed several homes in the coastal town of Petit-Goave, several residents reported.
"People have been killed, houses have been swept away by the water," resident Steeve Louissaint told AFP.
In videos not verified by AFP, residents could be seen searching for their loved ones. A father was recorded in tears as he removed his daughter's lifeless body from under a pile of debris.
Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in 90 years, has also slammed Jamaica and Cuba, where it caused "considerable damage" according to the Cuban president.
The storm, which has been downgraded to Category 2, has triggered hurricane warnings in parts of the Bahamas and Bermuda.
'Never been this bad': Jamaica surveys ruins in hurricane's wake
Black River, Jamaica (AFP) Oct 29, 2025 -
A demolished church, roofs blown off homes, shattered windows and debris-strewn, impassable roads: Hurricane Melissa dealt a direct hit to Jamaica's southwestern coastal communities that face a long haul picking up the pieces.
"It has been devastating," officer Warrell Nicholson told AFP by phone from the Black River police station, a building that was damaged but has still become something of a refuge for people seeking shelter.
Footage of the area shows felled trees, smashed cars, downed power lines and ruined homes -- a portrait of wreckage that is only starting to come clear as assessment is hampered by a lack of power and communications across the Caribbean island.
Hurricane Melissa smashed into Jamaica as a ferocious top-level storm, whose sustained winds peaked at 185 miles (295 kilometers) per hour while drenching the nation with torrential, life-threatening rain.
A little up the coast from Black River, Andrew Houston Moncure took shelter at home with his wife and 20-month-old son, at one point taking pillows and blankets into the shower to put as many walls between themselves and the brutal weather as possible.
It's far from his first hurricane -- but "it's never been this bad," he told AFP.
"It was the most terrifying experience, especially with my son. The pressure is so low you struggle to breathe, and it just sounds like a freight train going over you," Houston Moncure said, his voice trembling with emotion.
The roof blew off the hotel's kitchen, he said, but the hotel owners are trying their best to prepare and distribute food to locals before it goes bad.
"We are the lucky ones," he said. "When you look up into the hill, you just see boarded houses that are collapsed."
"It's gonna be a long road back."
- 'Everything is gone' -
In Seaford Town, Christopher Hacker's restaurant high in the hills of western Jamaica stands in ruins: "Everything is gone," he told AFP.
He is also a farmer, and shared images of his banana fields that were flattened.
"It will take a lot to recover from this," he said.
"Catastrophic is a mild term," said Coleridge Minto, head of the Saint Elizabeth Division of Jamaica's police, in a press update from the area.
"The situation here is devastating. We need all the help that we can."
Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared the tropical island famed for tourism a "disaster area" in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, which tied the 1935 record for the most intense storm to ever make landfall.
Some 70 percent of the country was without power: in Bluefields, Houston Moncure said they were using a pick-up truck to charge battery packs and a mini portable internet kit from Starlink.
"Our generator got hit by a tree. There's no communication. I have the only Starlink in the area," he said, calling the situation "catastrophic."
"Today we're just trying to care for the people who are here, take care of ourselves and take care of each other."
Melissa left Jamaica late Tuesday, though remnant rains persisted as the storm continued its destructive trek into Cuba.
Residents there were also suffering flooded homes, blocked streets and extensive infrastructure damage.
Desmond McKenzie, a Jamaican minister who has been coordinating emergency response, described extensive destruction including to hospitals.
Recovery, he said, would be arduous.
But amid the devastation, a glimmer of light: three babies were delivered during the storm, McKenzie told a briefing.
"We are a great country," he said. "Despite our challenges, we rise to the occasion."
Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
