![\"Residents](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-29t231905z-1489523452-rc2vlha5cwgn-rtrmadp-3-storm-melissa-cuba.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n By Tuesday, Melissa had morphed into a high-end Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, tying it with with four other hurricanes<\/a> as the second-strongest storm recorded in the Atlantic since records began in 1851.\n <\/p>\n \n As it headed toward Jamaica, where it slammed into the coast as a Category 5 storm on Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned it expected the situation to be \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cFor Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure,\u201d WMO tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan said.\n <\/p>\n \n Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, it crossed into eastern Cuba, still a formidable Category 3 hurricane by the time it made landfall in the province of Santiago de Cuba.\n <\/p>\n \n By the time it reached the Bahamas on Wednesday, Hurricane Melissa had been downgraded to a Category 1, but its broad wind field continued to drive torrential flooding rain, damaging winds and dangerous storm surge at the coast.\n <\/p>\n \n More than 735,000 people were evacuated in Cuba<\/a> as Melissa approached, according to President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, while in the Bahamas, preliminary estimates show 1,485 residents were evacuated before all flights were suspended ahead of the approaching storm.\n <\/p>\n \n Evacuation orders were also issued for six islands in the Bahamas.\n <\/p>\n \n Other countries, including the Dominican Republic and Haiti, also felt the cataclysmic impacts of Melissa.\n <\/p>\n \n Across the Caribbean, officials painted a consistent picture of the destruction Melissa left behind.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe conditions here are devastating. \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 is a mild term based on what we are observing here,\u201d Richard Solomon, the mayor of the southwest Jamaican city of Black River, where Hurricane Melissa made landfall, said in a video<\/a> posted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force.\n <\/p>\n \n Around 140,000 people were cut off as the storm pummeled the island, the government has said.\n <\/p>\n \n A CNN crew observed residents and military personnel push more than a dozen ambulances past storm debris in the town of Santa Cruz as the medical convoy headed to a coastal area in western Jamaica, which was hit hard.\n <\/p>\n \n On Wednesday, Jamaica\u2019s government minister said the government \u201cis not in a position to make an official statement on deaths\u201d that may have been caused by Hurricane Melissa.\n <\/p>\n \n Authorities in Jamaica have recovered four bodies in the badly hit St. Elizabeth Parish in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, a source in the government told CNN on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n \n Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared<\/a> the country a disaster area yesterday, as he sought to deter price gouging.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe must \u2026 continue to proactively maintain stability, protect consumers, and prevent any exploitation at a time when citizens are securing food, water, and supplies,\u201d Holness said.\n <\/p>\n \n Around 77% of the country was left<\/a> without electricity after Melissa crossed, a spokesperson said. The country\u2019s infrastructure has taken a battering, leaving it \u201cseverely compromised,\u201d according to Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica\u2019s Minister of Local Government and Community Development.\n <\/p>\n \n Around 25,000 tourists remained in Jamaica as the country emerged from the storm, Dana Morris Dixon, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information said in a statement<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n In the already beleaguered<\/a> country of Haiti, 25 people died in the south when a flooded river burst its banks, a local mayor said Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel said that Hurricane Melissa had wrought \u201csignificant\u201d damage on the island. \n Several international efforts have already been launched to aid in the recovery efforts.\n <\/p>\n \n The United Kingdom said on Wednesday it was deploying<\/a> \u00a32.5 million ($3.3 million) in emergency humanitarian funding.\n <\/p>\n![\"Traffic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-29t173349z-1087845122-rc2olhat70zu-rtrmadp-3-storm-melissa-jamaica.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-29t162401z-228805056-rc2qlhak4a1v-rtrmadp-3-storm-melissa.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Three people also died during storm preparations, but the government has not provided a death toll since the hurricane battered the island on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a highly complex night, with significant damage reported,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel wrote on X. \u201cI urge our people to remain vigilant, to uphold discipline, and to continue taking all necessary precautions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n