A satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Melissa churning northwest through the Caribbean on October 27, 2025.
'The Stuff of Nightmares': Hurricane Melissa Makes Catastrophic Landfall in Jamaica
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," said the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm as the island country braced for devastating impacts, humanitarian operations urgently mobilized, and experts voiced horror at the latest climate-fueled weather disaster.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center said in an update after the storm made landfall.
Early video footage posted to social media shows the storm—the most powerful to ever strike the island and the third-strongest to ever form in the Atlantic—wreaking havoc and destruction.
🇯🇲 | Video que muestra los daños y las inundaciones en el área de Black River, Jamaica, por el huracán Melissa. pic.twitter.com/k6RZDE9jdB
— Entredostv (@Entredostv1) October 28, 2025
Anne-Claire Fontan, the World Meteorological Organization's tropical cyclone specialist, told reporters that "a catastrophic situation is expected in Jamaica" and described the hurricane as "the storm of the century" for the island. Melissa's landfall is expected to bring extreme flooding, landslides, and other life-threatening impacts.
Tens of thousands of Jamaicans lost power as the slow-moving storm approached the island, bringing torrential rain and maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, with gusts over 220 mph. Storms like Melissa are the reason scientists are pushing to formally add a Category 6 for hurricanes.
"Unimaginable violence is hiding in the very small and compact eyewall of Melissa," said Greg Postel, hurricane specialist at The Weather Channel. "Nearly continuous lightning will accompany the tornadic wind speeds."
The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica—roughly half the island's population—are expected to be directly affected by Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm on Earth this year.
"We are okay at the moment but bracing ourselves for the worst," Jamaican climate activist Tracey Edwards said Tuesday. "I've grown weary of these threats, and I do not want to face the next hurricane."
The International Organization for Migration warned that "the risk of flooding, landslides, and widespread damage is extremely high," meaning that "many people are likely to be displaced from their homes and in urgent need of shelter and relief."
Melissa's landfall came on the same day that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community has failed to prevent planetary warming from surpassing the key 1.5°C threshold "in the next few years."
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote on social media that "this is the news I've dreaded all my life."
"Humanity has failed to avoid dangerous climate change," he wrote. "We have now entered the overshoot era. Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can."
Hurricane Melissa will make landfall in Jamaica in a few hours as one of the two strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic Basin -- on par with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in south Florida.Just horrific. The stuff of nightmares.
[image or embed]
— Eric Holthaus (@ericholthaus.com) Oct 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Climate experts said Hurricane Melissa bears unmistakable fingerprints of the planetary crisis, which is driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.
The warming climate is "clearly making this horrific disaster for Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas even worse," Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told the New York Times.
Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, told the Associated Press that the Atlantic "is extremely warm right now."
"And it's not just the surface," said Deoras. "The deeper layers of the ocean are also unusually warm, providing a vast reservoir of energy for the storm."
Amira Odeh, Caribbean campaigner at 350.org, warned in a statement Tuesday that "what is happening in Jamaica is what climate injustice looks like."
"Every home without electricity, every flooded hospital, every family cut off by the storm is a consequence of political inaction," said Odeh. "We cannot continue losing Caribbean lives because of the fossil fuel industry's greed."
"As world leaders head to COP30, they must understand that every delay, every new fossil fuel project, means more lives lost," Odeh added. "Jamaica is the latest warning, and Belém must be where we finally see a steer to change courses. The Caribbean is sounding the alarm once again. This time, the world must listen."
This story was updated after Hurricane Melissa made landfall.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm as the island country braced for devastating impacts, humanitarian operations urgently mobilized, and experts voiced horror at the latest climate-fueled weather disaster.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center said in an update after the storm made landfall.
Early video footage posted to social media shows the storm—the most powerful to ever strike the island and the third-strongest to ever form in the Atlantic—wreaking havoc and destruction.
🇯🇲 | Video que muestra los daños y las inundaciones en el área de Black River, Jamaica, por el huracán Melissa. pic.twitter.com/k6RZDE9jdB
— Entredostv (@Entredostv1) October 28, 2025
Anne-Claire Fontan, the World Meteorological Organization's tropical cyclone specialist, told reporters that "a catastrophic situation is expected in Jamaica" and described the hurricane as "the storm of the century" for the island. Melissa's landfall is expected to bring extreme flooding, landslides, and other life-threatening impacts.
Tens of thousands of Jamaicans lost power as the slow-moving storm approached the island, bringing torrential rain and maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, with gusts over 220 mph. Storms like Melissa are the reason scientists are pushing to formally add a Category 6 for hurricanes.
"Unimaginable violence is hiding in the very small and compact eyewall of Melissa," said Greg Postel, hurricane specialist at The Weather Channel. "Nearly continuous lightning will accompany the tornadic wind speeds."
The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica—roughly half the island's population—are expected to be directly affected by Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm on Earth this year.
"We are okay at the moment but bracing ourselves for the worst," Jamaican climate activist Tracey Edwards said Tuesday. "I've grown weary of these threats, and I do not want to face the next hurricane."
The International Organization for Migration warned that "the risk of flooding, landslides, and widespread damage is extremely high," meaning that "many people are likely to be displaced from their homes and in urgent need of shelter and relief."
Melissa's landfall came on the same day that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community has failed to prevent planetary warming from surpassing the key 1.5°C threshold "in the next few years."
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote on social media that "this is the news I've dreaded all my life."
"Humanity has failed to avoid dangerous climate change," he wrote. "We have now entered the overshoot era. Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can."
Hurricane Melissa will make landfall in Jamaica in a few hours as one of the two strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic Basin -- on par with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in south Florida.Just horrific. The stuff of nightmares.
[image or embed]
— Eric Holthaus (@ericholthaus.com) Oct 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Climate experts said Hurricane Melissa bears unmistakable fingerprints of the planetary crisis, which is driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.
The warming climate is "clearly making this horrific disaster for Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas even worse," Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told the New York Times.
Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, told the Associated Press that the Atlantic "is extremely warm right now."
"And it's not just the surface," said Deoras. "The deeper layers of the ocean are also unusually warm, providing a vast reservoir of energy for the storm."
Amira Odeh, Caribbean campaigner at 350.org, warned in a statement Tuesday that "what is happening in Jamaica is what climate injustice looks like."
"Every home without electricity, every flooded hospital, every family cut off by the storm is a consequence of political inaction," said Odeh. "We cannot continue losing Caribbean lives because of the fossil fuel industry's greed."
"As world leaders head to COP30, they must understand that every delay, every new fossil fuel project, means more lives lost," Odeh added. "Jamaica is the latest warning, and Belém must be where we finally see a steer to change courses. The Caribbean is sounding the alarm once again. This time, the world must listen."
This story was updated after Hurricane Melissa made landfall.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm as the island country braced for devastating impacts, humanitarian operations urgently mobilized, and experts voiced horror at the latest climate-fueled weather disaster.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center said in an update after the storm made landfall.
Early video footage posted to social media shows the storm—the most powerful to ever strike the island and the third-strongest to ever form in the Atlantic—wreaking havoc and destruction.
🇯🇲 | Video que muestra los daños y las inundaciones en el área de Black River, Jamaica, por el huracán Melissa. pic.twitter.com/k6RZDE9jdB
— Entredostv (@Entredostv1) October 28, 2025
Anne-Claire Fontan, the World Meteorological Organization's tropical cyclone specialist, told reporters that "a catastrophic situation is expected in Jamaica" and described the hurricane as "the storm of the century" for the island. Melissa's landfall is expected to bring extreme flooding, landslides, and other life-threatening impacts.
Tens of thousands of Jamaicans lost power as the slow-moving storm approached the island, bringing torrential rain and maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, with gusts over 220 mph. Storms like Melissa are the reason scientists are pushing to formally add a Category 6 for hurricanes.
"Unimaginable violence is hiding in the very small and compact eyewall of Melissa," said Greg Postel, hurricane specialist at The Weather Channel. "Nearly continuous lightning will accompany the tornadic wind speeds."
The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica—roughly half the island's population—are expected to be directly affected by Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm on Earth this year.
"We are okay at the moment but bracing ourselves for the worst," Jamaican climate activist Tracey Edwards said Tuesday. "I've grown weary of these threats, and I do not want to face the next hurricane."
The International Organization for Migration warned that "the risk of flooding, landslides, and widespread damage is extremely high," meaning that "many people are likely to be displaced from their homes and in urgent need of shelter and relief."
Melissa's landfall came on the same day that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community has failed to prevent planetary warming from surpassing the key 1.5°C threshold "in the next few years."
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote on social media that "this is the news I've dreaded all my life."
"Humanity has failed to avoid dangerous climate change," he wrote. "We have now entered the overshoot era. Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can."
Hurricane Melissa will make landfall in Jamaica in a few hours as one of the two strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic Basin -- on par with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in south Florida.Just horrific. The stuff of nightmares.
[image or embed]
— Eric Holthaus (@ericholthaus.com) Oct 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Climate experts said Hurricane Melissa bears unmistakable fingerprints of the planetary crisis, which is driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.
The warming climate is "clearly making this horrific disaster for Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas even worse," Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told the New York Times.
Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, told the Associated Press that the Atlantic "is extremely warm right now."
"And it's not just the surface," said Deoras. "The deeper layers of the ocean are also unusually warm, providing a vast reservoir of energy for the storm."
Amira Odeh, Caribbean campaigner at 350.org, warned in a statement Tuesday that "what is happening in Jamaica is what climate injustice looks like."
"Every home without electricity, every flooded hospital, every family cut off by the storm is a consequence of political inaction," said Odeh. "We cannot continue losing Caribbean lives because of the fossil fuel industry's greed."
"As world leaders head to COP30, they must understand that every delay, every new fossil fuel project, means more lives lost," Odeh added. "Jamaica is the latest warning, and Belém must be where we finally see a steer to change courses. The Caribbean is sounding the alarm once again. This time, the world must listen."
This story was updated after Hurricane Melissa made landfall.