Hurricane Melissa ripped through parts of the Caribbean this week, leaving more than 30 people dead and thousands displaced. Entire towns were flooded, and power grids went down according to reports from Le Monde.
Jamaica took the hardest hit when the storm made landfall near Kingston on October 29. The winds topped Category-5 strength and streets turned into rivers. According to AP, at least 14 people died there, including children, and nearly a million homes and businesses lost power.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said, “Recovery will take time, but the government is fully mobilized.” He added, “Relief supplies are being prepared, and we are doing everything possible to restore normalcy quickly.”
He also noted that despite the “heartbreaking,” the spirit of the Jamaican people “remains unbroken”.
I listened to so many inspiring tales of survival in Crawford #Jamaica today. The common threat: everyday people doing their best in an insane situation: the core of Cat-5 #Hurricane #MELISSA.
* Keith (“Benji”) Carey survived the storm surge in a tiny cement building on the… pic.twitter.com/9wO0JI21dW
— Josh Morgerman (@iCyclone) October 31, 2025
In Haiti, floodwaters and mudslides swept through unstable hillsides. Officials gave a provisional death toll that rose quickly as rescue teams searched washed-out areas.
One Haitian town in particular has been badly hit. Petit-Goâve saw devastating losses as 10 of the 20 dead were children. Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency confirmed that at least 160 homes were damaged and another 80 was completely destroyed.
Charly Saint-Vil shared that he saw people desperately searching for their children among the debris, per AP. “People have lost everything,” the attorney said.
Cuba also felt the storm’s force. Coastal towns saw roofs ripped away and long power outages. State media say emergency crews are still clearing roads blocked by landslides.
The storm comes at a time when the country is already in an economic crisis. AP News reports that Hurricane Melissa’s effects are already being felt as some experience fuel and food shortages.
However, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel remains positive stating, “As soon as conditions allow, we will begin the recovery. We are ready.”
Why was Hurricane #Melissa so powerful? An explanation👇
The worst is now over, but impacts are still expected across the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and even Bermuda before it moves deeper into the Atlantic and ultimately disappears into the mid-latitudes.
Melissa is easily the… pic.twitter.com/Jm9haRHJcK
— Weather Watcher (@WXWatcher07) October 29, 2025
Meteorologists link Melissa’s intensity to warmer ocean temperatures. The National Hurricane Center and climate scientists note that warm seas act as “fuel” for storms — a trend tied to global warming.
Governments and aid groups are mobilizing. The U.S. Coast Guard, Red Cross, and U.N. agencies are shipping supplies to Haiti and Jamaica. Cuba’s civil defense has started food and water distribution.
In Kingston, volunteers formed human chains to rescue seniors trapped by rising water. Churches in Haiti have opened their doors as shelters. “We may have lost everything,” said Jamaican teacher Claudine Brown, “but we haven’t lost each other.”
Melissa has now weakened to a Category 1 tropical storm moving north toward the Bahamas. Forecasters warn of more rain and flooding before it breaks apart over open water. But the damage already done will take months to repair.
At least one expert thinks that the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa could be more than Jamaica’s annual GDP. According to BBC, Accuweather’s Jonathan Porter believes that Jamaica’s losses could be as much as $22bn.
“It’s important to point out that the GDP, the gross domestic product, the output of the Jamaica economy is around $20bn per year. So you can see that it’s already over one year’s worth of GDP,” the chief meteorologist said.
“That shows the economic challenges that people in Jamaica are going to be facing.”
For now, officials say the priority is rescue and relief. Recovery — like the memories of this storm — will take much longer to fade.
