Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared Jamaica a “catastrophe space” after Hurricane Melissa barrelled throughout the Caribbean island as probably the most highly effective storms on report, forsaking 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 traces and bushes, 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 stated in a collection of posts on X that the storm has “ravaged” his nation and the catastrophe declaration provides his authorities “instruments to proceed managing” its response to the storm.
“It’s clear that the place the attention of the hurricane hit, there can be devastating influence,” he instructed the US information channel CNN late on Tuesday. “Stories now we have had to this point embrace harm to hospitals, important harm to residential property, housing and industrial property as nicely, and harm to our highway infrastructure.”
Holness stated he doesn’t have any confirmed studies of deaths for the time being. “However with a Class 5 hurricane, … we expect some lack of life,” he added.
The prime minister stated his authorities was mobilising rapidly to start out aid 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 – had been attributable to the hurricane.
Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s native authorities minister, instructed reporters on Tuesday night that the storm had triggered harm throughout nearly each parish within the nation and left a lot of the island with out electrical energy.
He stated the storm had put the parish of St Elizabeth, the nation’s fundamental agricultural area, “underneath water”.
“The harm to St Elizabeth is intensive, primarily based on what now we have seen,” the minister stated, including that “nearly each parish is experiencing blocked roads, fallen bushes and utility poles, and extra flooding in lots of communities.”
“Work is presently on the way in which to revive our service, to provide priorities to the crucial amenities, equivalent to hospitals and water and pumping stations,” he added.
The storm triggered “important harm” to at the least 4 hospitals, Well being and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton instructed the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.
A roof was fully torn off a constructing at a piece of the Savanna La Mar Public Normal Hospital because of the passage of Hurricane Melissa. The system made landfall earlier as we speak 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 really heartbreaking, devastating,” she stated 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, largely 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 stated.
“We did put together, however there wasn’t a lot that we may have executed.”
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, stated her dwelling 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 had been additionally gone, destroyed.”
Mathue Tapper, 31, instructed AFP that these within the capital had been “fortunate” however he feared for individuals in Jamaica’s extra rural areas.
“My coronary heart goes out to the parents dwelling on the western finish of the island,” he stated.
Melissa restrengthens
The US Nationwide Hurricane Heart warned on Tuesday evening that Melissa was restrengthening because it approached jap Cuba.
“Anticipated to make landfall there as an especially 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, based on Granma, the official newspaper, and forecasters stated 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 jap 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 stated in a televised tackle by which he assured that “nobody is left behind and no sources are spared to guard the lives of the inhabitants”.
On the similar time, he urged Cubans to not underestimate the ability 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 stated 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 stated. “They’re extraordinarily sizzling due to the gasses which have resulted from burning fossil fuels.”
“Nations like Jamaica, international locations which might be most weak to local weather catastrophe are additionally international locations which have had their wealth and sources stripped away from them by way of colonial bondage,” Loach added.
Talking on the United Nations Normal Meeting in September, Holness urged rich international locations to extend local weather financing to help international locations like Jamaica with adapting to the consequences of a warming world.
“Local weather change shouldn’t be a distant risk or a tutorial consideration. It’s a every day actuality for small island creating states like Jamaica,” he stated.
Jamaica is liable for simply 0.02 p.c of worldwide greenhouse gasoline emissions, which trigger international warming, based on information from the World Assets Institute.
However like different tropical islands, it’s anticipated to proceed to bear the brunt of worsening local weather results.
