Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on the southern coast of eastern Cuba early Wednesday near the city of Chivirico as a Category 3 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.
Melissa, located about 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), the Miami-based forecaster said.
The hurricane was moving northeast at 10 mph (16 kph), centred 32 km east of Chivirico and about 97 km west-southwest of Guantanamo.
Hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated to shelters in Cuba, where a hurricane warning was in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas.
Melissa was forecast to cross the island through the morning and move into the Bahamas later Wednesday, with forecasters warning that continuing intense rain could cause life-threatening flooding and numerous landslides.
A hurricane watch was also in effect for Bermuda.
Melissa struck Jamaica on Tuesday with top sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), pummelling the island as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.
The storm was expected to generate a storm surge of up to 12 feet in the region and drop up to 20 inches of rain in parts of eastern Cuba.
“Numerous landslides are likely in those areas,” said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The hurricane threatened to worsen Cuba's severe economic crisis, which has already led to prolonged power blackouts, fuel shortages and food scarcity.
“There will be a lot of work to do. We know there will be a lot of damage,” Díaz-Canel said in a televised address, in which he assured that “no one is left behind and no resources are spared to protect the lives of the population.”
At the same time, he urged the population not to underestimate the power of Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”
Provinces from Guantanamo — in the far east — to Camagüey, almost in the centre of elongated Cuba, had already suspended classes on Monday.
As Cuba braced for the storm, officials in Jamaica began assessing the extensive damage left behind. Parts of Clarendon in southern Jamaica and the southwestern parish of St Elizabeth were “under water,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica's Disaster Risk Management Council.
The storm also damaged four hospitals and left one without power, forcing officials to evacuate 75 patients, McKenzie said.
More than half a million customers were without electricity as of late Tuesday, with officials reporting widespread downed trees, power lines, and flooding.
The government said it hopes to reopen all of Jamaica's airports as early as Thursday to ensure the quick distribution of emergency relief supplies.
The storm has already been blamed for seven deaths across the Caribbean — three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, and one in the Dominican Republic — while another person remains missing.
