Melissa is expected to strengthen even further into a major catastrophic hurricane when making landfall in Jamaica.Published On 26 Oct 202526 Oct 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareHurricane Melissa has rapidly strengthened into a major Category 3 with potentially catastrophic consequences, as it dropped torrential rain in the northern Caribbean and threatened disastrous flooding and landslides in Jamaica and southern Haiti.Forecasters in the United States warned Saturday that the lumbering Melissa is expected to gain strength when making landfall in Jamaica in the coming day or two.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.”Melissa was centred about 200km (125 miles) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 455km (280 miles) west-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, late Saturday night.It had maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometres per hour (115 miles per hour), the hurricane centre said.Authorities in Jamaica said on Saturday that the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston will be closed. They did not say whether they will close the Sangster airport in Montego Bay, on the western side of the island.More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed.Melissa was expected to unleash punishing rains of up to 76 centimetres (30 inches) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola – Haiti and the Dominican Republic – according to the hurricane centre.It should be near or over Cuba by the middle of the week. The Cuban government on Saturday afternoon issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin. Advertisement The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.“Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm, it is increasingly dire,” Jamie Rhome, the centre’s deputy director, said earlier on Sat …
