Residents work to remove a partially buried vehicle in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Petit-Goave, Haiti, on November 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Rescuers and aid workers fanned out across Jamaica to distribute food and water, reaching communities still isolated four days after Hurricane Melissa hit the island.

Essential relief supplies are now rolling into hurricane-stricken St Elizabeth and Westmoreland on Saturday (November 1, 2025), most of which had been cut off by fallen concrete posts and trees strewn across roads.

However, in some areas, people were forced to dip buckets into rivers, collecting the muddy water for everyday use, while others drank coconut water and roasted breadfruit.

In Westmoreland, mangled metal sheets, splintered wooden frames of houses and fragments of furniture littered the coastline.

Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr was among several convoys of emergency responders en route to deliver ready-to-eat meals, water, tarpaulins, blankets, medicine and other essentials.

“The priority now is to get help to those who need it,” said Charles Jr during a brief stop en route to Black River for the first time with long-awaited relief supplies. Prime Minister Andrew Holness had declared Black River ground zero and said the town will have to be rebuilt.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) set up a satellite disaster relief site at the Luana community centre near Black River where care packages are being dispatched to hurricane-stricken residents.

Many have been without vital supplies since Tuesday and quickly converged around a JDF truck as word spread that relief supplies were being distributed in the sweltering afternoon sun.

“Everyone is homeless right now,” Rosemarie Gayle said. “Thank you, thank you. I can’t say thank you enough,” she said, as she accepted a package of rice, beans, sardines, powdered milk, cooking oil and other essentials.

Hurricane Melissa has left devastation in its wake, snapping power lines and toppling buildings, disrupting food and water distribution and destroying crop fields.

Some people have been walking for miles in search of basic goods and to check on loved ones, as more than 60% of the island remained without power. Helicopters have been dropping food in cut-off communities.

“People are in shock and they’re waiting on relief,” said World Vision’s national director of domestic humanitarian and emergency affairs Mike Bassett, who travelled to the town of Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth on Friday.

“The biggest needs are clean water, tarps for roof damage, canned proteins, hygiene and cleaning supplies,” he said.

On Saturday, the United Nations’ World Food Program received 2,000 boxes of emergency food assistance shipped from Barbados, to be distributed in shelters and in the most-affected communities in the St Elizabeth area.

“They will help meet the needs of 6,000 people for one week,” said communications officer for WFP Alexis Masciarelli.

One of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall, Melissa has been blamed for at least 28 deaths in Jamaica, and 31 in nearby Haiti.

Health Minister Christopher Tufton recognized that the death toll in Jamaica was probably higher as many places are still hard to access, but said that it would be unwise to speculate.

Tufton also warned about the risk of increased mosquitoes, waterborne diseases and food poisoning. “Please discard spoiled food,” he said.

Melissa made landfall in southwest Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph).

A US regional disaster assistance response team was on the ground after being activated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week, the US Embassy in Jamaica said.

“The United States stands with Jamaica as they respond to the impacts of the hurricane and remains prepared to swiftly deliver emergency relief items,” it said.

Jamaica’s Water and Environment Minister Matthew Samuda took to the social media platform X in a desperate bid to find tarpaulin after Melissa tore off scores of roofs on homes in western Jamaica. X users chimed in to help, indicating where they had seen supplies.

Falmouth, a popular fishing spot on Jamaica’s north coast, had suffered significant damage including flooding and flattened buildings, Holness said on Saturday.

“Our immediate priority is to restore electricity and telecommunications and to ensure that essential services, particularly at the Falmouth Hospital, are stabilised,” he said on X, adding that Jamaica would rebuild “stronger and wiser.” Following the devastation, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) said that it would make a record payout to Jamaica of $70.8 million.

The facility enables countries to pool their individual risks to provide affordable coverage against natural disasters. The payout will be made within 14 days, the group said on Friday.

Finance Minister Fayval Williams said Thursday that the CCRIF insurance policy was just one part of the government’s financial plan to respond to natural disasters. She pointed to a contingencies fund, a national natural disaster reserve and a catastrophe bond.

Government officials have said damage assessment is still ongoing.

Published – November 02, 2025 08:45 am IST

Men cover a car to protect it from Hurricane Melissa as the storm churns towards Cuba, after making landfall in Jamaica, in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, on October 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Hurricane Melissa intensified on Tuesday (October 28, 2025) before making landfall in Jamaica, where officials and residents braced for catastrophic winds, flash flooding and landslides from the Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.

The streets in the capital, Kingston, remained largely empty as Melissa approached with 185 mph (295 kph) winds, save for the lone stray dog crossing puddles and a handful of people walking briskly under tree branches waving in a stiff wind.

Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council, urged people to seek shelter and stay indoors as the storm crosses the island.

“Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” he said.

The Jamaican government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of devastating damage from the strongest hurricane to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.” Massive wind damage is expected in Melissa’s core and Jamaica’s highest mountains could see gusts of up to 200 mph (322 kph), said Michael Brennan, director of the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

“It’s going to be a very dangerous scenario,” he said, warning that there would be “total building failures.” Melissa is the fifth most intense Atlantic basin hurricane on record by pressure and the strongest to make landfall since Hurricane Dorian in 2019, according to hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry.

It is “a worst-case scenario unfolding for Jamaica,” he said.

Jamaica prepares for aftermath

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa approached, with officials in Jamaica cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. The storm is expected to slice diagonally across the island and head for Cuba.

On Tuesday morning, Melissa was centered about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 145 miles (235 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba. The system had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 9 mph (15 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center.

A life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) is expected across southern Jamaica, with officials concerned about the impact on some hospitals along the coastline. Health Minister Christopher Tufton said some patients were relocated from the ground floor to the second floor, “and (we) hope that will suffice for any surge that will take place.”

One man called a local radio station and said he urgently needed to help a woman in western Jamaica who had gone into labour as the storm prepared to make landfall. The show’s host pleaded with listeners to let the man know the safest hospital for the woman. An obstetrician called in and provided detailed directions on how to deliver a baby, if necessary.

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities.

“Many have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is frightening,” he said. “There is profound fear of losing homes and livelihoods, of injury, and of displacement.”

McKenzie said the government was prepared for rescues immediately after the storm: “We have boats, helicopters, you name it.”

The storm was already blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

Necephor Mghendi, the International Red Cross’ regional head of delegation for the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, said an estimated 1.5 million people in the storm’s path will be affected but “the entire population may feel the impact one way or the other.”

More than 240,000 customers were without power before landfall, and about one-fourth of the telecommunications system was offline, said Darryl Vaz, transport and energy minister. He said crews will clean and run tests at the island’s two main international airports Wednesday in hopes of receiving emergency relief flights as early as Thursday.

UN agencies and dozens of nonprofits had food, medicine and other essential supplies positioned as they awaited a distribution rush after the storm.

Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s water and environment minister, said he had more than 50 generators available to deploy after the storm, but warned people to set aside clean water and use it sparingly.

“Every drop will count,” he said.

Melissa takes aim at Cuba

Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Up to 51 centimetres of rain were forecast in areas, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

Authorities in eastern Holguín province prepared to evacuate more than 200,000 people Tuesday and evacuated a similar number of people earlier from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed blue and white buses ferrying evacuees to shelter early Tuesday. Families clutched babies and belongings and elderly people steadied themselves with canes as they disembarked.

“This phenomenon is very dangerous,” Deputy Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez said in a statement from Banes, where he was located in what appeared to be a shelter. “It is unprecedented.”

Melissa has also drenched the southern regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a tropical storm warning still in effect for Haiti. The hurricane was forecast to turn northeast and strike the southeast Bahamas by Wednesday evening.

Published – October 28, 2025 11:42 pm IST

Hurricane Melissa was packing sustained winds of up to 175 mph (282 kph) on Monday (October afternoon, as the slow-moving Category 5 storm was on course to barrel into Jamaica, in what could be the largest on record for the Caribbean island.

As of 2 p.m. (1800 GMT), Melissa was a “catastrophic” storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The NHC expects Melissa to move over Jamaica late Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday, cross eastern Cuba the following night and move over the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos by Wednesday.

The storm’s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, NHC forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and as much as 3 feet of rain.

Melissa’s wind-span is currently larger than the length of Jamaica, an island roughly the size of Connecticut and whose main airports sit very close to sea level.

Hours after ordering mandatory evacuations for parts of southern Jamaica, including the historic town of Port Royal, Prime Minister Andrew Holness called on foreign support and warned of damage to farmlands, homes and infrastructure such as bridges, roads, ports and airports.

Despite warnings, some residents told Reuters they were reluctant to leave their homes for fear of looting, and authorities said buses were waiting to be filled up and transport some 28,000 affected by mandatory evacuation orders.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” he said.

Holness said his government was as prepared as can be, with an emergency response budget of $33 million and insurance and credit provisions for damage a little larger than those sustained from last year’s devastating Hurricane Beryl.

Beryl was the earliest and fastest Atlantic hurricane on record to reach Category 5, but scientists warn that storms are becoming stronger faster as a result of climate change warming ocean waters, piling up fuel for seasonal storms.

“Tens of thousands of families are facing hours of extreme wind gusts above 100 mph and days of relentless, torrential rainfall,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter, adding infrastructure damages could hamper the arrival of aid.

“Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record,” he added. “This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion.”

Jamaica has seen many large hurricanes in the past, including Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, but a direct hit from a Category 5 would be unprecedented, said Evan Thompson, of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service.

Melissa is moving much slower than Gilbert, Jamaica’s last major direct hit, Porter added, warning people should prepare to hunker down for days and some communities could be cut off for weeks.

‘We can’t move’

Damian Anderson, a teacher from Hagley Gap, a town nestled in Jamaica’s soaring Blue Mountains, said impassable roads had already cut off his community.

“We can’t move,” Anderson, 47, said. “We’re scared. We’ve never seen a multi-day event like this before.”

Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have already faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities in those island nations said.

In Haiti, impoverished by years of gang violence, more than 3,650 residents in southern parts of the country moved into temporary shelters, authorities said, as they suspended flights to and from the southern peninsula and banned sailing.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis also ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago, while much of eastern Cuba battened down ahead of Melissa’s expected landfall.

Cuban authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people living in coastal and mountainous areas vulnerable to heavy winds and flooding, and canceled schools and transport across eastern Cuba.

More than 250,000 people were brought to shelters around Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, which lies squarely in the crosshairs of the hurricane’s predicted path.

Published – October 28, 2025 08:02 am IST