Hurricane Melissa makes Cuba landfall after lashing Jamaica

(Bloomberg) --Hurricane Melissa thrashed Cuba, unleashing landslides and flooding in the nation's second-largest city, as the storm tracked northeast toward the Bahamas.

Melissa hit the island around 3:10 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday near Santiago de Cuba, according to the US National Hurricane Center. That came less than a day after it became the strongest recorded storm to strike Jamaica, where it left hundreds of thousands without power and forced hospitals to evacuate.

The storm weakened after hitting rugged terrain in Cuba, becoming an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds of 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour. Melissa hit Jamaica as a Category 5, with wind speeds of 185 miles per hour. It's likely to continue to lose strength on Wednesday, but it's expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it crosses Cuba. 

Cuba is bracing for as much as 25 inches (63 centimeters) of rain and storm surges reaching 12 feet (3.7 meters) above normal. There were reports of flooding and landslides in Santiago de Cuba, according to state newspaper Granma. The Charco Mono Dam, which supplies water to the city, was also reportedly overflowing, and authorities were racing to rescue residents trapped by debris and rising waters.

Cuban officials evacuated around 735,000 people ahead of the storm's arrival on Wednesday morning, media reported. President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called on citizens to "be alert" and "show discipline," according to state newspaper Granma. More than 3,600 people also took emergency shelter in Haiti.

The storm is expected to reach the Bahamas Wednesday afternoon, before passing west of Bermuda on Thursday, the hurricane center's forecast and other major weather models show. Melissa is expected to degrade into an extra-tropical cyclone late Friday or early Saturday.

Melissa slammed into Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon, as a rare Category 5 hurricane and potentially the most destructive of the 2025 season. It struck near New Hope on Jamaica's southern coast, about 25 miles south of Montego Bay, according to the NHC.

The situation in Jamaica remained too chaotic to provide a full, official assessment, according to Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie, who has been leading the emergency response. He said the damage has been widespread.

"This is one of the worst experiences that we have ever encountered," McKenzie said in a televised statement on Tuesday. More than 500,000 citizens were left without power, while 15,000 were in shelters and three hospitals were severely damaged, he added.

President Donald Trump, who was traveling in Asia, told reporters that the US was monitoring the damage and "prepared to move" humanitarian assistance to Jamaica.

"It's doing tremendous damage as we speak," Trump said, adding that the storm was "knocking down everything in front of it."

UN aid groups are preparing to deliver food and other supplies once the weather calms and Jamaica's airports reopen, the agency said, adding that Haiti already has stockpiles on hand to assist up to 86,000 people.

About 2,500 feet above sea level, Melissa's winds clocked in at 215 miles per hour, according to measurements collected by hurricane hunter aircraft before landfall in Jamaica. In addition to the winds, the storm has brought days of flooding rain, putting residents and an estimated 25,000 tourists on the island at risk. 

The hurricane is expected to result in property damages costing between $5 billion and $10 billion in Jamaica, according to an estimate by Cotality, a property intelligence company. 

Households and small businesses are more vulnerable than hotels, and gaps in insurance coverage could result in "severe financial and social disruption," according to Firas Saleh, director of insurance solutions for Moody's.

Local media reported that Melissa hammered St. Elizabeth Parish, along the island's southwestern coast. Images shared by the Jamaica Observer showed roofs being ripped off buildings and streets covered in raging floodwater. In the capital Kingston, there were reports of sporadic flooding and wind gusts tearing down billboards. 

This is the strongest storm to hit land anywhere in the Atlantic since Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas in 2019 also with 185 miles per hour winds, said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

While the data is spotty in places, there is no record of a storm this strong ever hitting Jamaica since 1851, Klotzbach said. Before Melissa, the most powerful storm to hit the island was Gilbert in 1988, as a Category 4 with winds of about 132 miles per hour.

Read More: Tracking Hurricane Melissa's Latest Path

Four Category 5 hurricanes have hit the US mainland, and only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 matched Melissa's intense winds. The others, Camille in 1969, Andrew in 1992 and Michael in 2018 all lacked Melissa's power, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records. 

Melissa has already led to at least seven deaths across the Caribbean, including three in Haiti. The storm is endangering roughly 3.5 million people across the region, according to estimates from the United Nations' and European Union's Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System.