Jamaica

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.

A small turboprop plane bound for Jamaica on a hurricane relief mission crashed into a pond in a residential area of the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs, minutes after take off from Fort Lauderdale Executive airport.

Shaggy, the Grammy-winning reggae artist, has stepped up to help Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa. He used ChatGPT to determine what supplies were needed and quickly organized relief efforts.

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.

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.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa — one of the strongest storms in recorded history — several South Florida organizations and local governments are stepping up to help Caribbean nations affected by the storm.

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.

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.