Hurricane Melissa Devastates Jamaica, Kills 32

Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica as a Category 5 storm on October 28, 2025, unleashing winds of up to 185 miles per hour and torrential rains that devastated the island nation and parts of the western Caribbean, killing at least 32 people in Jamaica and causing damages estimated at 6 to 7 billion U.S. dollars.

The storm, one of the strongest to ever strike the Atlantic, made landfall near Black River in St. Elizabeth Parish, stripping roofs from nearly 90 percent of homes in the area and generating close to 5 million metric tons of debris across western and central Jamaica. Officials reported widespread destruction to housing, businesses, farms, roads, hospitals and infrastructure, with landslides blocking access and flooding ruining crop fields. In the central highlands, up to 30 inches of rain fell over five days, displacing hundreds of thousands and disrupting basic services like electricity, water and telecommunications. The United Nations Development Programme described the event as Jamaica's worst climate disaster in history, with initial assessments pegging the economic toll at about 30 percent of the country's gross domestic product.