Jamaican health and wellness ministry reports three storm-related deaths<\/p>\n
The devastating impact of the hurricane has already being felt in Jamaica<\/a>. The island\u2019s health and wellness ministry reported on Monday evening that there had been three storm-related deaths \u201cin preparation\u201d for the hurricane.<\/p>\n The Jamaican ministry of health and wellness added in its post on X<\/a>:<\/p>\n We urge the public to exercise extreme caution: activities such as climbing roofs, securing sandbags, or cutting trees may seem manageable, but even minor mistakes during hurricane conditions can result in serious injury or death.<\/p>\n Driving through flooded roads or areas with debris is also extremely hazardous. Health centres remain closed, but hospitals are open and attending to storm-related injuries. Please be wise, stay safe, and protect yourself and your family during this storm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.28 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Hurricane Melissa thought to be the most powerful storm of the year so far<\/p>\n Hurricane Melissa is predicted to be the most powerful hurricane to hit Jamaica<\/a> on record and is reported to be the strongest storm anywhere on Earth so far this year when measuring wind speeds and central pressure.<\/p>\n Its maximum sustained winds are 175 mph (282km\/h), according to the National Hurricane Center<\/a>, as of 2pm ET.<\/p>\n Melissa was upgraded to a category five \u2013 the maximum strength \u2013 by the US-based National Hurricane Center yesterday.<\/p>\n Category five is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (250km\/h). The chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, Jonathan Porter, said Melissa would be the strongest hurricane in recorded history to hit Jamaica directly.<\/p>\n A man uses his mobile phone at the waterfront in Kingston on 27 October 2025. Photograph: Ricardo Makyn\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.05 EDT<\/p>\n Jamaican health and wellness ministry reports three storm-related deaths<\/p>\n The devastating impact of the hurricane has already being felt in Jamaica<\/a>. The island\u2019s health and wellness ministry reported on Monday evening that there had been three storm-related deaths \u201cin preparation\u201d for the hurricane.<\/p>\n The Jamaican ministry of health and wellness added in its post on X<\/a>:<\/p>\n We urge the public to exercise extreme caution: activities such as climbing roofs, securing sandbags, or cutting trees may seem manageable, but even minor mistakes during hurricane conditions can result in serious injury or death.<\/p>\n Driving through flooded roads or areas with debris is also extremely hazardous. Health centres remain closed, but hospitals are open and attending to storm-related injuries. Please be wise, stay safe, and protect yourself and your family during this storm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.28 EDT<\/p>\n Summary<\/p>\n It\u2019s 2am in Jamaica<\/a> and in case you\u2019re just joining us, here\u2019s a rundown on the latest news as Hurricane Melissa moves closer to making landfall in Jamaica.<\/p>\n Jamaican officials called on the public to get to higher ground and shelters on Monday evening ahead of the category 5 hurricane, with prime minister Andrew Holness warning it could be a massively destructive storm \u2013 the island\u2019s most violent on record.<\/p>\n The storm was on track to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, with forecasters saying it could cause catastrophic destruction<\/a> from flooding, winds and landslides.<\/p>\n The storm was set to go ashore in Cuba later on Tuesday and then head toward the Bahamas.<\/p>\n Melissa has been blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean as it moved towards Jamaica.<\/p>\n The US National Hurricane Centre said the storm was \u201cpotentially catastrophic\u201d and that \u201cmultiple life-threatening hazards\u201d were in play in Jamaica. Among them was up to 13 feet (four metres) of storm surge inundation on parts of the south coast.<\/p>\n Melissa was centred about 155 miles (245km) south-west of Kingston on Monday night local time. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175mph (280km\/h) and was moving north-west at 2mph (4km\/h), the US National Hurricane Centre said. At category 5 \u2013 the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale \u2013 Melissa would be the strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica directly.<\/p>\n Parts of eastern Jamaica could see up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, the centre said, citing the likelihood of \u201ccatastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides\u201d.<\/p>\n Mandatory evacuations were ordered in flood-prone communities in Jamaica but some people insisted on staying. Jamaican government officials said they were worried that fewer than 1,000 people were in the more than 130 shelters open across the island.<\/p>\n Several towns on Jamaica\u2019s southern coast reported power outages as winds picked up throughout the night.<\/p>\n In eastern Cuba, a hurricane warning was in effect for the Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guant\u00e1namo and Holguin provinces, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 20 inches (51cm) of rain was forecast for parts of Cuba, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.<\/p>\n Cuban officials said they would evacuate more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island\u2019s second-largest city. Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.16 EDT<\/p>\n Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in flood-prone communities across Jamaica<\/a>, with buses moving people to safe shelter, but as we\u2019ve reported, some people have insisted on staying.<\/p>\n Local government minister Desmond McKenzie said on Monday evening that of the island\u2019s 880-odd shelters standing by, only 133 were hosting locals.<\/p>\n They \u201cshould be seeing people now\u201d, McKenzie said, adding:<\/p>\n I want to urge persons in these parishes to get to high ground as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n People take shelter at a school in Old Harbour ahead of the storm\u2019s arrival. Photograph: Matias Delacroix\/AP<\/p>\n But despite the pleas to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Melissa\u2019s forecast landfall on the island on Tuesday, many Jamaicans weren\u2019t going.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not moving. I don\u2019t believe I can run from death,\u201d Roy Brown told Agence France-Presse in Kingston\u2019s seaside area of Port Royal.<\/p>\n The plumber and tiler said he was reluctant to flee because of his past experiences with the poor conditions of government hurricane shelters.<\/p>\n Fisher Jennifer Ramdial agreed, adding: \u201cI just don\u2019t want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said at a press conference:<\/p>\n You have been warned. It\u2019s now up to you to use that information to make the right decision.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.17 EDT<\/p>\n On the ground Jamaicans are bracing for the approaching storm.<\/p>\n Ava Brown is in St Elizabeth, which is expected to be one of the worst-affected areas, and the author and publisher said that despite taking every possible precaution, she was scared.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a single mom so I had one of my neighbours help me to batten down my windows. We had to move certain things away from the house,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really scared. It\u2019s scary because, for example, you worry about how to ration the food.<\/p>\n Natricia Duncan and Anthony Lugg also report from Jamaica<\/a> that Jason Henzell, the chair of a hotel in the popular tourist destination Treasure Beach, said he decided to leave his St Elizabeth home and relocate his family to Kingston as he saw the effects of the storm.<\/p>\n Henzell said that despite his efforts to \u201clead by example\u201d and encourage other residents to leave the area and seek shelter elsewhere, some have chosen to remain.<\/p>\n Jamaicans are very deep in their faith \u2026 So as a people we [tend] to think that we can pray something away. And for the most part, we have been spared. So there is a feeling as though the Lord is going to protect us. He\u2019s going to take [the hurricane] into a different direction\u2026<\/p>\n But you know \u2026 at some point, the luck is going to run out, the blessings are going to run out. And I just, I hope and pray this is not that day, but it is looking like it is that day.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hurricane Melissa began as a cluster of thunderstorms off the coast of west Africa and travelled west and developed into a depression, reaching tropical storm status to the north of Venezuela a week ago.<\/p>\n Its rapid intensification over the weekend strengthened Melissa to category 4 as it slowly moved west through the Caribbean<\/a> Sea, reaching category 5 intensity on Monday morning with sustained winds of 160mph (257km\/h).<\/p>\n As Brendan Wood and Lauren Herdman report in our weather tracker<\/a>, if the storm maintains its current strength it will make it the strongest of only five hurricanes ever recorded to hit Jamaica directly.<\/p>\n Melissa\u2019s notably slow traversal \u2013 averaging barely 5mph (8km\/h) in recent days and now at 2mph (4km\/h) \u2013 will exacerbate the impact, with extremely high rainfall along its path. Totals of 200-400mm (8in-16in) are likely across Jamaica<\/a> by Tuesday evening, rising to 1,000mm in places.<\/p>\n Similar amounts are expected in south-eastern Cuba<\/a> from late Tuesday and into Wednesday.<\/p>\n In comparison, London and Paris receive about 650mm a year.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.22 EDT<\/p>\n Here are some images showing the hurricane\u2019s forecast path as it heads towards Jamaica<\/a> from the south and the likelihood of it packing hurricane-force winds across a five-day forecast.<\/p>\n Melissa is currently reported as being centred about 150 miles (240km) south-west of Kingston and about 330 miles (530km) south-west of Guant\u00e1namo, Cuba<\/a>.<\/p>\n The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280km\/h) and was moving north-northeast at 2mph (4km\/h), according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.<\/p>\n Map<\/a>Map<\/p>\n Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the country\u2019s western end faced the worst destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe there is any infrastructure within this region that could withstand a category 5 storm, so there could be significant dislocation,\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n Map<\/a>MapShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.56 EDT<\/p>\n Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages have been reported in Jamaica<\/a> ahead of Hurricane Melissa, with officials warning that the cleanup and damage assessment will be slow.<\/p>\n Forecasters said the storm was expected to make landfall early Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north.<\/p>\n Hours before the storm, the government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage, the Associated Press is reporting<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a category 5,\u201d said the prime minister, Andrew Holness.<\/p>\n The question now is the speed of recovery. That\u2019s the challenge.<\/p>\n A fallen tree on a street in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches. Photograph: Octavio Jones\/ReutersA fence at Hellshire Fishing Beach in Portmore, Jamaica, damaged by the storm\u2019s preliminary winds. Photograph: Rudolph Brown\/EPA<\/p>\n Amid the expectation of a life-threatening storm surge of up to four metres (13 feet) across southern Jamaica, officials are concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coastline.<\/p>\n Health minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, \u201cand [we] hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.41 EDT<\/p>\n The US National Hurricane Centre has again warned<\/a> on social media that Melissa is \u201cexpected to bring catastrophic and life-threatening winds, flooding and storm surge\u201d to Jamaica on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The director of the centre in Miami, Dr Michael Brennan, said earlier in a live update<\/a> on Monday that with the storm centre forecast to reach Jamaica\u2019s coast \u201csometime early Tuesday\u201d, destructive winds were expected in Melissa\u2019s eyewall as it made landfall and moved across the island.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n So we could have complete damage, destruction of shelters, homes and buildings in the path of that eyewall, not just along the coast but in areas of high terrain across the central part of the island as the centre of Melissa moves across the island during the day on Tuesday \u2026<\/p>\n Everyone in Jamaica needs to be in their safe place now to ride out the storm all the way through tomorrow.<\/p>\n We\u2019re also very concerned about the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation near and to the right of where the centre crosses the south coast early tomorrow, with the potential for nine to 13 feet [2.7 to 4 metres] of inundation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.17 EDT<\/p>\n Opening summary<\/p>\n Welcome to our live coverage of Hurricane Melissa as it moves closer to making landfall in Jamaica and threatens catastrophic destruction<\/a> from flooding, winds and landslides. Here\u2019s the latest as it as just passed 12 midnight in Kingston.<\/p>\n Jamaican officials called on the public to get to higher ground and shelters on Monday evening ahead of the category 5 hurricane, with the prime minister warning it could be a massively destructive storm \u2013 the island\u2019s most violent on record.<\/p>\n The storm was on track to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday before coming ashore in Cuba later in the day and then heading toward the Bahamas. Melissa has been blamed for seven deaths in the northern Caribbean<\/a> as it moved towards Jamaica.<\/p>\n The US National Hurricane Centre said Melissa was \u201cpotentially catastrophic\u201d and that \u201cmultiple life-threatening hazards\u201d were in play in Jamaica. Among them was up to 13 feet (four metres) of storm surge inundation on parts of the south coast.<\/p>\n Andrew Holness, the Jamaican prime minister, said as the storm neared: \u201cI have been on my knees in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n In other key developments:<\/p>\n Melissa was centred about 155 miles (245km) south-west of Kingston on Monday night local time. The system had maximum sustained winds of 175mph (280km\/h) and was moving north-west at 2mph (4km\/h), the US National Hurricane Centre said.<\/p>\n At category 5 \u2013 the top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale \u2013 Melissa would be the strongest hurricane on record to hit Jamaica directly.<\/p>\n Parts of eastern Jamaica could see up to 30 inches (76cm) of rain, the centre said, citing the likelihood of \u201ccatastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides\u201d.<\/p>\n Mandatory evacuations were ordered in flood-prone communities in Jamaica, with buses ferrying people to safe shelter, although some people insisted on staying. Jamaican government officials said they were worried that fewer than 1,000 people were in the more than 130 shelters open across the island.<\/p>\n
With agencies<\/p>\n