Hurricane Melissa strikes Cuba after devastating Jamaica as Category 5 storm
Hurricane Melissa, classified as the "storm of the century" by the WMO, made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm after hitting Jamaica at Category 5.
October 29, 2025 - 03:30 PM ET • 2 min read
The extremely dangerous Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba on October 29, 2025, as a Category 3 storm, bringing torrential rains, storm surge, and high winds to the island nation. The powerful system, which struck with sustained winds near 195 km/h (121 mph), followed a path of devastation across the Caribbean, having previously impacted Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane.
Cuban officials reported that 735,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm's arrival. The government had implemented early warning messages and identified vulnerable zones, preparing a comprehensive relocation plan, particularly in the eastern regions of the island. President DÃaz-Canel urged the population to exercise extreme caution in the face of the "extremely dangerous" system.
Prior to reaching Cuba, Hurricane Melissa delivered a catastrophic blow to Jamaica, where it struck as a Category 5 storm. The intensity of the storm left 530,000 people without electricity across the territory.
Jamaican authorities had responded to the threat by closing airports, implementing mandatory evacuations for the most exposed populations, and activating mass shelters. Forecasters noted that the typical October hurricane season had necessitated high levels of preparedness across the region.
Rodney MartÃnez, the representative for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, lamented the scale of the event, stating that "No territory can emerge unscathed from a phenomenon of this magnitude."
Hurricane Melissa was characterized by its rapid and extreme intensification. The storm escalated quickly from a Category 1 to a Category 5 system in a short period, according to meteorological reports.
The WMO had already classified Melissa as "the storm of the century for Jamaica" even before it made landfall on the island. This designation underscored the exceptional threat posed by the cyclone, which forced Caribbean nations to utilize superlative adjectives to describe its potential impact.
The preparedness measures taken by regional governments, including the proactive evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents in Cuba and the mandatory relocation efforts in Jamaica, reflected the urgency driven by the storm's severity and its rapid intensification in the context of ongoing climate concerns.