Hurricane Melissa

Headlines have been filled with talk of the catastrophic power of Hurricane Melissa after the Category 5 storm devastated communities across Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti in October 2025. But to see this as a singular disaster misses the bigger picture: Melissa didn’t hit stable, resilient islands. It hit islands still rebuilding from the last hurricane.

Jamaica’s peak tourism season is one month away, and officials in the hurricane-ravaged nation are rushing to rebuild from the catastrophic Category 5 storm that shredded the island’s western region.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management working with Jamaican officials has evacuated dozens of Floridians stranded in Jamaica during Hurricane Melissa.

With many connected through Jamaican heritage, about a dozen Broward elected officials and community leaders discussed ongoing aid efforts.

South Florida was spared a direct blow from Hurricane Melissa, but the massive storm still hit home for the millions of residents there who have deep roots in the Caribbean. Now, the Caribbean diaspora from Miami to New York City is turning its heartbreak into action.

In large South Florida Jamaican communities like Lauderhill's, the urgent drive to collect and ship Hurricane Melissa relief aid to their devastated island goes on alongside the frustrating effort to communicate with loved ones there.

It has become a tired adage, but nonetheless true. The world’s poorest countries will suffer the most from climate change despite being least responsible for it.

People across the northern Caribbean are digging out from the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa as deaths from the storm climbed.

Updated: Hurricane Melissa has caused severe flooding and storm surge in Cuba after leaving Jamaica with power outages and killing at least 40 people in Haiti.

Melissa is now traveling over Cuba, with strong, violent winds and extreme rainfall. Up to 16 inches of rain is possible for eastern Cuba.

Hurricane Melissa grew into one of the most powerful Atlantic tropical cyclones in recorded history on Oct. 28, 2025, hitting western Jamaica with 185 mph sustained winds. The Category 5 hurricane blew roofs off buildings and knocked down power lines, its torrential rainfall generated mudslides and flash flooding, and its storm surge inundated coastal areas.

The 185 mph winds that Melissa packed on landfall made it the most powerful recorded hurricane to ever hit Jamaica — challenging the mettle of the island's most storm-hardened denizens.