Hurricane Melissa live updates: No official death toll in Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica.

ByJack Moore, David Brennan, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: October 30, 2025, 10:54 PM EDT

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.

After lashing Jamaica with dangerous winds and flooding rain, Melissa made a second landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning. Melissa then moved through the Bahamas, and next, on Thursday night, the storm will pass Bermuda as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 28, 2025, 11:38 AM EDT

35% of customers without power

As Hurricane Melissa nears landfall, there are 240,000 Jamaica Public Service customers -- accounting for 35% of all customers -- already without power, according to Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's minister of science, energy, telecommunications and transport.

The outages are mostly in St. Elizabeth, Manchester, St. James and Hanover parishes, officials said.

"Flooding is expected. Landslides are expected. Storm surge is expected," principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica Evan Thompson warned on Tuesday morning.

Flooding is already being reported in St. Elizabeth Parish, officials said.

-ABC News’ Othon Leyva

Oct 28, 2025, 11:03 AM EDT

Melissa's eyewall reaches coast of Jamaica

The eyewall of Hurricane Melissa has reached the coast of Jamaica, with landfall expected in the next few hours around Crawford, on the southwest part of the island.

Melissa is packing dangerous 185 mph winds and is moving north-northeast at 9 mph.

A man walks in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, Oct. 28, 2025.
Matias Delacroix/AP

Oct 28, 2025, 10:22 AM EDT

'We're just riding it out'

Michelle Robinson, an attorney with homes and offices in New York and Jamaica, is holed up in an apartment in Kingston as Hurricane Melissa moves in.

“We were OK throughout the night,” she told ABC News Live on Tuesday morning. “Power was going in and out, we had some really strong winds. But so far, we’re hanging in there.”

Michelle Robinson, an attorney with homes and offices in New York and Jamaica, is currently holed up in an apartment in Kingston.
3:46
NY native on riding out Hurricane Melissa: 'We're hanging in there'Michelle Robinson, an attorney with homes and offices in New York and Jamaica, is currently holed up in an apartment in Kingston.
ABCNews.com

Robinson said she prepared for the hurricane by stocking up on water, food, flashlights and batteries.

“Because of how the building is designed, we’re not really able to board up our windows, so we’re just hoping for the best,” Robinson said.

“We’re just riding it out,” she added.

Robinson said her biggest concern for her area, which is slightly inland, is flooding.

“Where we are, a little bit of rain can cause flooding," she said. "So I’m more concerned about when the heavier rainfall starts that we’re gonna have severe flooding."

A man wearing a protective suit cycles on a street, as Hurricane Melissa approaches, in Kingston, Jamaica, October 27, 2025.
Octavio Jones/Reuters

Oct 28, 2025, 10:18 AM EDT

Melissa nearing landfall

Hurricane Melissa is nearing landfall, with the eye wall expected to reach the coast of Jamaica within the next 20 minutes.

Landfall will occur around 11 a.m. or noon near Black River, on the southwestern part of the island.

Hurricane Melissa is seen over the Caribbean Sea, Oct. 28, 2025.
NOAA

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