Hurricane Melissa leaves more than 45 dead as rescue efforts gather – nationwide
The confirmed death toll of Melissa rose to 49 on Thursday, according to official reports, after it devastated the North Caribbean and gained speed as it passed Bermuda in the North Atlantic.
Authorities in Haiti, which had not been directly hit but were still hit by torrential rains from the slow-moving storm, reported at least 30 deaths.
At least 23 people, including 10 children, died in the southern Haitian town of Petit-Goove when a river burst its banks. Roads, houses and farms were damaged by the rains.
Jamaica’s Information Minister confirmed at least 19 deaths, but said authorities were continuing search and rescue efforts. The storm left hundreds of thousands without power, torn from the roofs of buildings and fields scattered with debris.
The Jamaican Army has called Reserve personnel to report for operational relief and rescue operations.
Melissa made landfall in Southwestern Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean nation’s strongest hurricane to hit its coast, and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.
Beautiful View of the Black River, Jamaica, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, after Hurricane Melissa.
AP Photo / Matias Delacroix
Windspeeds were above the lower level of the storm’s strongest classification. Forecasters at Accoweather say they are tied for second place with the strongest Atlantic Hurricane on record in terms of Windspeed while on land.
Forecasters estimated $48 billion to $52 billion in damage and economic loss in the western Caribbean.
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Melissa also hit Eastern Cuba, where some 735,000 people have moved, but as of Thursday, no deaths were reported there, despite extensive damage to homes and crops.
At 11:00 in the evening, Melissa was a Category 2 Hurricane 264 km west of the North Atlantic Island of Bermuda, according to the US National Hurricane Center, packing the highest winds of 161 kph.
Residents of Bermuda were calm as the storm is expected to give the island a wide berth. Authorities said they would close its causeway Thursday night and close schools and colleges Friday “out of an abundance of caution.”
In the Bahamas, Melissa decided on Wednesday night, authorities raised hurricane warnings but did not give the “all clear.”
The official said the authorities were expected to make a decision on Saturday whether it is safe for hundreds of people from the affected islands to return to their homes.
He walked barefoot in the mud
The front page of Jamaica’s Reker newspaper reads: “Destruction.”
Populous Kingston was spared much of the damage. Its main airport was set to reopen on Thursday, as was the capital’s port. Relief and aid flights had begun pouring into Jamaica’s airports, authorities said.
But across the country, more than 130 roads remained blocked by trees, debris and power lines, authorities said, forcing the military to clear one road, with ambulances trailing behind.
Satellite images showed swaths of trees and homes destroyed in the most pristine areas hit in Jamaica, spaserthery remaining greenery cleared and many buildings destroyed.
Montego Bay’s Montego Bay neighbor, 77-year-old Alfred Hines waded barefoot through thick mud and debris as he described his narrow escape from the rising floodwaters.
“At one stage, I see water around my waist and (after) about 10 minutes, I see it around my neck here and I escape,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.
“I want to forget it and things go back to normal.”
In the Western parts of the island, people flock to supermarkets and gas stations to fill up.
“Montego Bay has no fuel. The gas stations are down,” British tourist Chevelle Fitzgerald told Reuters, adding that it took her at least 174 hours to cross the Jamaican island.
“The main road was closed. There was some obstruction on the road and trees came down,” he said.
More than 70 percent of Jamaica’s electricity customers remain without power as of Thursday morning, said Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who is in charge of downed power lines on the island’s roads.
Many schools remained without power or water, officials in the capital said.
The help of the people around
Scientists say storms are intensifying rapidly and with greater frequency due to warmer ocean waters caused by the release of greenhouse gases.
Many Caribbean leaders have called on wealthy, wealthy nations to offer retribution in the form of aid or debt relief.
Despite the UN setting up a fund to boost nations to quickly access reliable funding for extreme weather events by 2023, donations have not met with stones.
US forecaster actuWweather said Melissa was the third deepest tropical storm in the Caribbean, with slow, cumulative damage to affected areas.
US search and rescue teams are expected in Jamaica on Thursday to assist in recovery efforts, Jamaican authorities said. US Secretary Marco Rubio said the US is prepared to provide “immediate humanitarian assistance” to the Cuban people, as long as we.
The authorities in Cuba – which Melissa hit at night as a category 3 hurricane – said they “wait for clarification on how they are willing to help.”
At least 241 Cuban communities remained isolated and without communication on Wednesday following the storm’s phase in the province of Santiago, according to initial media reports, affecting as many as 140,000 citizens.
Residents of Santiago, the second largest city, have begun to return to repair their homes. Authorities have evacuated 735,000 people to live outside the storm and moved tourists to the northern curtains and hotels inland mat atland hotels.
