Hurricane Melissa Barrels Toward Jamaica as a Category 5 Storm, the Strongest Ever to Hit There

Hurricane Melissa became a Category 5 storm as it moved closer to Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 27. If it remains that strong when it makes landfall on the island, it would be the strongest storm to do so since record-keeping started in 1851.

The storm has already killed at least six people in the northern Caribbean, the Associated Press reported. It is set to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, Oct. 28, and could reach Cuba before the end of that day.

Melissa remained nearly stationary in the Caribbean for days after developing into a tropical cyclone, becoming a major hurricane on Sunday, Oct. 26. By the next day, Melissa had strengthened into a Category 5 storm.

The storm is still moving very slowly at just 3 mph as of Monday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.

Category 5 is the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Major hurricanes in this category have winds reaching 157mph or higher. A storm surge of up to 13 feet is expected along Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city.

“This can become a true humanitarian crisis very quickly, and there is likely going to be the need for a lot of international support,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, told the AP.

Hurricane Melissa is not forecast to reach the U.S. mainland. The U.S. Embassy in Jamaica is urging U.S. citizens there to take shelter, as the island’s airports have already closed.

“Melissa is expected to bring 15 to 30 inches of rain to parts of Jamaica, with storm totals possibly reaching 40 inches. Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” the embassy’s weather warning reads.

The Jamaican government issued mandatory evacuation orders on Sunday for the most vulnerable coastal communities, per CNN.

“Storm surge is expected mainly over the southern side of the island, and this would be to the east of the center as it starts to, as it approaches the south coast, and as it begins to make impact,” Evan Thompson, the principal director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, said Sunday.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and lasts through Nov. 30. 

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted there would be between 13 and 19 named storms in the Atlantic during the 2025 season, six to 10 of which were expected to become hurricanes. 

There have already been three major hurricanes in the Atlantic this season: Erin, Gabrielle and Humberto. None of the storms made landfall in the U.S.