Latest Update: Melissa to impact the Bahamas, Bermuda and Atlantic Canada after striking Cuba and Jamaica as one of the most powerful hurricanes on record
AccuWeather® Global Weather Center – Oct. 29, 2025 - Hurricane Melissa will bring torrential rainfall, powerful wind gusts, and several feet of storm surge to the Turks and Caicos and parts of the Bahamas, following a destructive early morning landfall in Cuba.
“Hurricane Melissa slammed into southeast Cuba with maximum sustained winds near 120 mph. A major hurricane landfall in the dark is incredibly dangerous, with flying debris and life-threatening flash flooding,” AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said. “Melissa was able to regain some of its strength overnight as it left Jamaica and crossed the warm waters of the Caribbean before its second destructive landfall in Cuba. The storm surge that pushed into some of the bays and beaches may have reached 10-15 feet. The storm lost wind intensity as it interacted with the mountains of southeast Cuba, but the forced upward motion of the air over the mountainous terrain is squeezing out tremendous amounts of rainfall. Life-threatening flooding and mudslides can happen in a matter of minutes with this much rain, especially near steep terrain.”
AccuWeather hurricane experts say Melissa will bring some rain and wind impacts to Bermuda later this week and Nova Scotia at the end of the week and into the weekend.
Melissa is a 5 for the western Caribbean on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, a 3 for the Bahamas and a 1 for Bermuda.
Massive Economic Impact
Melissa is the first Category 5 hurricane on record to make landfall in Jamaica, causing widespread damage across the island.
AccuWeather experts issued a new preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Melissa at $48 billion to $52 billion.
“This historic landfall left a path of catastrophic destruction where the eye of the storm crossed through western Jamaica. Homes and businesses were destroyed by hours of extreme winds. Communities across the island and adjacent areas of Southern Hispaniola were flooded by torrential rainfall,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “The loss of tourism and disruptions to business will be felt for years. Extensive work is needed to repair or rebuild critical infrastructure from the winds, storm surge, flooding and mudslides. In the hardest hit communities, the recovery will take years, even a decade or more. Virtually the entire economy of Jamaica has been impacted by this hurricane."
“Recovery and relief operations will be extremely dangerous and challenging over the next few days. After a major hurricane in a tropical climate, mold, mildew, and mosquitoes quickly become major health concerns,” DaSilvasaid. “Residents and tourists may be stranded for quite some time in the hardest hit areas. This was a historic and devastating storm for the Caribbean. The recovery and rebuilding process after a direct hit from a Category 5 storm could take a decade or longer.”
Porter says medical care, evacuations, clean drinking water, emergency shelter, and basic necessities for hurricane survivors are a top priority in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“An urgent and coordinated international response is needed to help tens of thousands of people in desperate need of aid across the western Caribbean,” Porter said. “The next few days will be crucial for search, rescue, and relief operations, with the focus on saving lives. A humanitarian crisis can quickly develop if help cannot reach the hardest hit areas over the next 48 hours.”
The AccuWeather® preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss accounts for damage to homes and businesses, disruptions to commerce and supply chain logistics, tourism losses, impacts to shipping operations at major hubs, financial losses from extended power outages, major travel delays, as well as damage to infrastructure.â¯This is a preliminary estimate, as the storm effects continue to be felt, and some areas have not yet reported complete information about damage, injuries and other impacts.
AccuWeather® incorporates independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm, which include both insured and uninsured losses and are based on a variety of sources, statistics and unique techniques AccuWeather® uses to estimate damage. It includes damage to property, job and wage losses, crops, infrastructure, interruption of the supply chain, auxiliary business losses and flight delays. The estimate also accounts for the costs of evacuations, relocations, emergency management and the extraordinary government expenses for cleanup operations and the long-term effects on business logistics, transportation and tourism as well as the long-term and short-term health effects and the medical and other expenses of unreported deaths and injuries.
AccuWeather® is the trusted source for total damage and economic loss estimates for weather disasters in the United States. Our recognized experts incorporate independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of extreme weather events. In 2017, AccuWeather® first issued a widely quoted preliminary estimate for total damage and economic loss during catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey along the Gulf coast, which helped people in the impacted area and across the country to better understand the magnitude of the disaster.
Staggering storm statistics
AccuWeather hurricane experts say Melissa will go down in history as the strongest landfall on record in Jamaica and one of the most powerful hurricanes ever in the Atlantic basin.
“This has been a remarkably unique hurricane season with very powerful storms. Hurricane Melissa was able to maintain Category 5 strength for a staggering 34 hours before it hit Jamaica,” DaSilva said. “Melissa is the third storm this season to explode into a Category 5 hurricane. Exceptionally warm waters across the Atlantic basin provided ample energy for storms to rapidly intensify this year. The only year on record with more Category 5 storms was 2005, with four storms.”
AccuWeather hurricane experts say Melissa tied two other hurricanes as the strongest recorded landfall on record in the Atlantic basin.â¯â¯
Hurricane Melissa, Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and the Labor Day storm of 1935 all had a landfall with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. â¯
Additional AccuWeather® Resources:
'Total devastation': Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of destruction, flooding in Jamaica
AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes
AccuWeather Ready: Hurricane Season Safety & Preparedness Information
AccuWeather Hurricane Tracker: Melissa
AccuWeather® meteorologists are available 24/7 to provide further insights and updates on evolving weather conditions. Please contact pr@accuweather.com during regular business hours, or support@accuweather.com or call the AccuWeather® Media Hotline at (814)-235-8710 at any time to arrange interviews with AccuWeather experts or to request the most updated graphics for print or broadcast.
Report a Typo
