Hurricane tracker shows Melissa is now stronger than Katrina as ‘storm of the century’ closes in on Jamaica: Live updates

Hurricane Melissa is on track to deliver a historic and catastrophic Category 5 strike on Jamaica on Tuesday, bringing life-threatening flash floods, landslides and destructive winds.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents: ‘Remain sheltered! Failure to act may result in serious injury or loss of life.’

Melissa’s intensity could fluctuate this morning due to internal processes like eyewall replacement cycles. Regardless, the storm is expected to hit Jamaica as an extremely dangerous major hurricane within the next 12 hours.

While interaction with Jamaica and eastern Cuba may cause some weakening, Melissa is still forecast to move over portions of the Bahamas as a strong hurricane on Wednesday.

The storm is currently moving north-northeast at about 4 mph and is expected to accelerate over the next few days as it tracks ahead of a strengthening trough over the southeastern US.

Read the full story by Stacy Liberatore here:

Footage shot in the hurricane’s eye shows the eerie calmness with clear blue, sunny skies up above, while the thick cloudy eye wall can be seen swirling around in the distance.

A specially adapted plane operated by the US Air Force hurricane hunters flew into the center of the storm to capture the images.

On Tuesday morning, Melissa was centered about 55 miles south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 265 miles southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

The system had maximum sustained winds of 175 mph and was moving north-northeast at 7 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Hurricane Melissa, which has overtaken Katrina in terms of intensity, is packing winds of 175-mph and will be the strongest storm to ever hit Jamaica.

Power company Jamaica Public Service (JPS) said over 52,000 customers were affected by outages on Monday as the island prepared for Hurricane Melissa.

‘As weather conditions from Hurricane Melissa continue to deteriorate, we are seeing an increase in outages. We want to be clear: Our teams are already responding,’ JPS said.

‘Over the last 24 hours, just over 52,000 customers were impacted by outages, and our teams have already restored power to more than 30,000 of those affected.

‘We are working to connect the remaining customers. However, in some areas, heavy rains and difficult terrain are creating access challenges.’

Friends and family of US citizens visiting Jamaica are pleading for help as their loved ones brace for impact from Hurricane Melissa.

Worried aunt, Jamie Neimeyer, posted on X that her nephew and his bride of one week are trapped.

‘We tried every avenue, including private charters. They had a seat for Grace on one of the last flights out, but she wouldn’t leave Jet,’ she posted.

Another couple was visiting the island for their 10th anniversary and were set to leave on Saturday, but their flight had been canceled ahead of the incoming hurricane.

Maritza Caver-Blake told ActionNews5: ‘We have two kids back in Jonesboro that family and our friends are taking care of until we get back.

‘My main concern is my kids and trying to make sure that we can get back to them.’

The US Embassy in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, has told American citizens to shelter in place and check in with loved ones when possible.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued a statement Monday night warning residents to prepare for Hurricane Melissa.

‘Hour by hour, it is becoming apparent that the impact of Hurricane Melissa will be greater than the impact of Hurricane Beryl, certainly in terms of rainfall and flooding,’ Holness said.

‘Prepare your evacuation plan and comply with the evacuation orders given. Avoid unnecessary risks such as playing in flood waters and waterways, climbing trees and roofs during the hurricane, shelter in place, stay inside during the hurricane.’

Here are the latest pictures from the Jamaican capital Kingston where residents have woken up waiting for Hurricane Melissa’s arrival.

Melissa is expected to make landfall in the coming hours.

In the capital, Melissa is feared to have a destructive impact on the city’s coastline which is home to Jamaica’s main international airport and power plants.

Three people were killed in Jamaica while preparing for Hurricane Melissa, officials said.

Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness, Christopher Tufton, said the three victims were killed while trees were being cut down.

‘Over the past few days, in preparation for the storm, we have had three deaths – three deaths linked to cutting down of trees, and in one instance electrocution because of, or due to, the cutting down of a tree,’ Tufton said.

He also noted that about 15 injuries have been reported related to storm preparations.

The Jamaica deaths bring the death toll from Hurricane Melissa up to seven, with three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic already killed in the storm.

A Red Cross official has warned millions across Jamaica will face a ‘difficult’ day as the country prepares for the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Speaking via video link from Trinidad and Tobago, Necephor Mghendi, from the International Federation of Red Cross, said:

Today will be very difficult for tens of thousands, if not millions of people in Jamaica. Roofs will be tested, flood waters will rise, isolation will become a harsh reality for many.

To enable swift relief distribution, essential items — tarpaulins, hygiene kits, blankets and safe drinking water — had been pre-positioned in Red Cross branches on the island, he said, with over 800 shelters set up for evacuees.

Jamaica’s health minister Dr Chris Tufton has told how he was kept awake by Hurricane Melissa as many across the country faced a sleepless night.

Dr Tufton told how swaying trees and howling winds meant he was kept wide awake as many on the island prepare for Melissa’s landfall expected in the next few hours.

Reuters captured palm trees swaying violently in the wind this morning in Kingston.

Melissa is showing no signs of weakening as it approaches Jamaica with experts warning it will likely remain a Category 5 storm when it makes landfall.

Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said:

We’re running out of time for it to weaken before landfall.

Melissa has maintained 175mph winds since yesterday as it strengthened to become the most powerful storm this year and one of the most intense on record.

Note: The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based only on a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed

Category 1: 74-95mph. Very dangerous winds will produce some damage

Category 2: 96-110mph. Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage

Category 3: 111mph-129mph: Devastating damage will occur

Category 4: 130mph-156mph: Catastrophic damage will occur

Category 5: 157mph+ Catastrophic damage will occur

Thousands of tourists’ Jamaican vacations have been ruined after Hurricane Melissa locked down the Caribbean paradise, with flights home cancelled.

Families have also been told there is no way off the island as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Caribbean rips through the country.

The Category 5 monster is packing sustained winds of around 175mph and dumping up to 40 inches of rain in some parts of Jamaica. Forecasters have warned of catastrophic flash flooding and lethal landslides.

Jamaican authorities have declared a national emergency, ordered mass evacuations in flood zones, and told people to shelter in place.

Airports have been shut, and many roads have been left underwater or covered in debris, with many buildings boarded up.

The huge shutdown has trapped thousands of holidaymakers in beach resorts and rented villas with nowhere to go. According to reports, around 5,000 Brits are currently on the island.

Read the full story by Kevin Adjei-Darko here:

This new satellite image captured this morning shows Hurricane Melissa bearing down on Jamaica.

Melissa, which has overtaken Katrina in terms of intensity, is packing winds of 175-mph and will be the strongest storm to ever hit Jamaica.

A British tourist in Jamaica has told how hotel guests are being told to put their mattresses up against the wall because the windows will likely blow out.

Andrew Tracey told Sky News he flew to the Caribbean on October 20 and was meant to return to the UK yesterday before his flight was cancelled.

Speaking from his hotel where he is sheltering in his bathroom, Mr Tracey said the walls and balcony feel as though they are vibrating owing to the strength of the wind.

It’s very loud, even with the doors closed and everything, it’s very intense at the moment. I’m very nervous, it’s hard to comprehend what we are likely to expect.

But saying that I do feel as though I am in the safest place possible, I really feel for the locals that don’t have the protection that I currently have.

Landslides across Jamaica are ‘already happening’, the Red Cross has said, amid warnings of catastrophic damage across the island.

The Red Cross’s communications officer Esther Pinnock told AFP said huge rock movements had been recorded following heavy rainfall brought by Melissa.

‘It’s looking quite eerie on the outside, and every once in a while we have some gusty winds, but the system is creeping in,’ Pinnock said.

Despite urgent warnings by officials, some have made the choice to stay on their properties, she added.

Local government minister Desmond McKenzie said late Monday that many of the island’s 880-odd shelters standing by were empty.

‘I want to urge persons… to get to high ground as quickly as possible,’ he said.

The US National Hurricane Center has warned people in Jamaica who fail to act against the incoming Hurricane Melissa could lose their life in its latest warning to those on the island.

In a message released at 5am ET, it said:

Remain sheltered! Catastrophic flash flooding, landslides, and destructive winds will continue through today, causing widespread infrastructural damage, power and communication outages, and isolated communities. Total structural failure is possible near the path of Melissa’s center. Along the southern coast, life-threatening storm surge and damaging waves are expected through the day. Failure to act may result in serious injury or loss of life.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said it expects a catastrophic situation in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa makes landfall with winds gusts over 300 kilometres per hour, flash floods and landslides in the worst storm to hit the island this century.

‘It’s a catastrophic situation expected in Jamaica,’ WMO tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a Geneva press briefing.

‘For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.’

Hurricane Melissa could affect 1.5 million people in Jamaica alone, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Tuesday, warning of a ‘massive impact’.

‘1.5 million people may be impacted,’ Necephor Mghendi, the IFRC’s head of delegation for the English-and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, told reporters in Geneva from Trinidad and Tobago, warning that number could be ‘an underestimate’.

Prime minister Andrew Holness has said Jamaica’s infrastructure is unable to withstand a Category 5 storm ahead of Melissa making landfall later today.

Parts of Jamaica could see rainfall of up to 40 inches and a ‘life-threatening storm surge’ which could cause landslides and flooding, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.

Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm of 2025, has overtaken Katrina to become the seventh most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, it has been reported.

According to Sky News, data shows the huge storm approaching Jamaica has an air pressure in its centre of 901 millibars (mb), just ahead of Hurricane Katrina, which reached 902mb.

Melissa’s maximum 175mph sustained windspeed also matches Katrina which devastated the US Gulf coast in 2005.

Katrina caused an estimated $125bn (£94bn) worth of damage and killed 1,392 people when it made landfall near New Orleans.

British tourists in Jamaica have been told to prepare as the island’s strongest storm on record closes in.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has set up a crisis centre ready to help Britons on the Caribbean island and the Royal Navy ship HMS Trent is already in the region on stand-by.

Around 5,000 British nationals are on the island, reports have said.

UK travel trade organisation Abta warned British tourists in Jamaica to monitor local news.

The international airports in Jamaica are now closed as a precaution until the storm passes. Travel providers are liaising with their suppliers locally and providing advice and assistance to their customers.

Customers currently in Jamaica are advised to monitor local news and should follow the advice of the local authorities, their accommodation and travel providers. Customers who are imminently due to travel to Jamaica should liaise with their travel provider and airline to establish if there are any changes to their travel arrangements.

A Jamaican official has told how some on the island are fearful of leaving their homes during Hurricane Melissa in case they are raided.

Arthel Colley, a councillor in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish in Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer that some are refusing to leave their houses despite fears they would not withstand the storm when it makes landfall.

He said efforts had been made to move some residents to shelters but that it had proved futile.

‘Nobody doesn’t wants to leave their house because they are fearful that people will steal their stuff,’ said Mr Colley, who is a retired police officer.

A meteorologist has warned some communities in Jamaica could be cut off for weeks as a result of Hurricane Melissa with fears growing over how aid can be delivered to the worst affected areas.

AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said infrastructure damages could hamper the arrival of emergency supplies.

Tens of thousands of families are facing hours of extreme wind gusts above 100 mph and days of relentless, torrential rainfall.

Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record. This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion.

Jamaica has seen many large hurricanes in the past, including Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, but a direct hit from a Category 5 would be unprecedented, said Evan Thompson, of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service.

Melissa is moving much slower than Gilbert, Jamaica’s last major direct hit, Porter added, warning people should prepare to hunker down for days and some communities could be cut off for weeks.

If you’re just joining us, we are reporting live updates on Hurricane Melissa which is expected to make landfall in Jamaica today, bringing a potential catastrophic impact on the Caribbean nation.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Hurricane Melissa is on course to be the worst hurricane in Jamaica’s history when it makes landfall later today
• Tourists, some of whom are British nationals, trapped in Jamaica have been left in fear for their lives as the island braces itself for the world’s most powerful storm this year with forecasters expecting it to unleash catastrophic flooding, deadly landslides and 175mph winds.
• Melissa intensified to a Category 5 – the maximum strength – on Monday and has already begun lashing the coast with ‘life-threatening hurricane-force winds’ and damaging waves.
• The storm is expected to bring 40 inches of rain in parts of Jamaica over the next four days, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), as resorts and hotels across the island prepare to take on the brutal force of the tropical storm.
• Jamaican officials have urged people to get to higher ground with resort restaurants and beaches completely shut off to the public
• However, some on the island say they are staying put despite Prime Minister Andrew Holness warning of catastrophic damage
• Seven people, three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, have already died in storm conditions

Fears are rising that a four-foot storm surge will leave a key Jamaican airport underwater, potentially leaving tourists stranded for even longer when the storm passes.

BBC science correspondent Thomas Moore explained the Norman Manley International Airport, which lies on the south coast of Jamaica, may be left flooded as the runway is just three metres above sea level.

‘If that is under a metre of water, even when the hurricane is gone, how quickly does that water dissipate?

‘How quickly can they get aid flights, doctors, emergency teams on the ground who haven’t been able to get in since the airport closed over the weekend?,’ he said.

Tourists trapped in Jamaica have been left in fear for their lives as the island braces itself for the world’s most powerful storm this year with forecasters expecting it to unleash catastrophic flooding, deadly landslides and 175mph winds.

As the hurricane hurtles closer, holidaymakers in Jamaica have been sharing updates on social media as they scramble for safety before Melissa makes its devastating landfall.

One tourist said she was ‘really scared’ and ‘praying for the whole of Jamaica’, while another revealed many were left feeling ‘anxious’ as they wait for in anticipation for the storm to hit.

Hotel staff across the island have been boarding up doors with wooden planks, taping windows, removing lights and clearing out pools as they attempt to limit the destruction Hurricane Melissa threatens to bring later today.

Holidaymaker Rebecca Chatman told BBC Radio 4 this morning that she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ as she scrambled to take shelter with her children at their resort just 30 minutes from Montego Bay.

Hundreds of British nationals could be trapped on Jamaica when Hurricane Melissa strikes today.

Andrew Tracey is staying at a hotel with what he believes is around 200 other UK residents, and says he has been placed into lockdown in his hotel room until at least Wednesday.

Despite his attempts to get out of the country before Melissa rages in, Mr Tracey, who only arrived in Jamaica on October 20, said his flight was cancelled and that there was ‘nothing we could really do’.

‘If I knew that the hurricane would hit while I was out here, I wouldn’t have gone at all,’ he told Sky News.

‘It’s hard to comprehend what we’re about to expect. I’ve never experienced any kind of hurricane, let alone a Category 5.

‘The tension in the hotel last night when we went down for dinner was definitely one of nerves, even locals.’

Hurricane Melissa is currently approaching Jamaica very slowly in a north-easterly direction through the Caribbean Sea.

Melissa is expected to make landfall early today and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north, forecasters said.

After pummeling Jamaica, Melissa is forecast to cross over eastern Cuba on Tuesday night.

Fuelled by warm waters in the Caribbean Sea, Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a Category 5 cyclone while moving at little more than a strolling pace – a mix that experts warn could amplify its impacts through relentless rain, storm surge and wind.

Melissa jumped from a tropical storm with 70 mph (110 kph) winds on Saturday morning to a 140 mph Category 4 within 24 hours. It’s since developed further into a Category 5, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson, where even well-built structures face catastrophic damage.

It was the fourth of five Atlantic hurricanes this season to intensify in such dramatic fashion.

‘We haven’t had that many hurricanes in the Atlantic this season, but an unusual proportion of them went through a phase of intensifying quite rapidly,’ meteorologist and climate scientist Kerry Emanuel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told AFP.

While it’s hard to read the fingerprints of human-caused climate change into individual events, scientists are more confident when it comes to trends.

‘This may very well be collectively a signature of climate change,’ he said.

An academic at Nottingham Trent University has warned Melissa will be a storm unlike many others witnessed on Jamaica.

Dr Steve Godby, an expert in natural hazards in the University’s school of animal, rural and environmental sciences, said:

In 2007 I travelled to Jamaica with MapAction, a UK based NGO, to assist with the humanitarian response to Hurricane Dean. As a Category 5 storm, Dean had grazed the southern coast of the island and we saw informal housing in coastal districts levelled, trees stripped of leaves and branches and even concrete electricity pylons snapped.

Unlike Dean, Melissa is heading for a landfall close to major population centres and will bring severe threats to people at the coast and inland this time. It is the kind of storm few Jamaicans will have witnessed.

Some residents say they plan on staying put when Melissa hits

Melissa threatens to be the worst hurricane in Jamaica’s history, yet some on the island say they will believe it when they see it.

Jamaican officials have urged people on the island of 2.8 million to cooperate with evacuation orders, yet some are staying put, even as torrential rains and battering winds begin.

Jamal Peters, a 34-year-old front manager at a hotel in Port Royal, said:

Jamaicans on the whole aren’t the type of people who would just get up and leave their home. They’d prefer to stay. And if a window blows out or something like that they can be there.

Peters took up his post last month, and so far preparations at the 63-room waterfront hotel have involved moving guests to higher floors, battening down wherever possible, trimming trees and clearing out boats.

We are still bracing for impact. But for the most part, because this is not our first hurricane, Jamaicans would have been prepared for what’s to come.

Others said it was business as usual. Roy Brown, a plumber and tiler, said:

Evacuate? No, no. We’re not going to do that. Even if it’s Category 6, I am not moving. I don’t believe I can run from death. So whenever the Father is ready for me. I know he can take me, so I’m not running.

A man watches the waves crash into the walls in Kingston on Monday

As Hurricane Melissa draws closer to Jamaica, part of the storm’s punch stems from its slow pace with it lumbering along at just three miles per hour.

That means areas in its path could endure punishing conditions for far longer than during most hurricanes.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of ‘catastrophic’ flash flooding, landslides and destructive winds that could cause lengthy power and communications outages, along with ‘extensive infrastructural damage.’

Up to 40 inches (one meter) of rainfall are forecast, with flash flooding and landslides expected in Jamaica as well as Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

A storm surge is likely along Jamaica’s southern coast, with waters potentially rising 13 feet (4 meters), along with ‘destructive waves.’

Here are the latest pictures we can bring you from Jamaica where the island is braced for Hurricane Melissa to hit today.

Images show fences torn down and trees uprooted as officials warn the island could face catastrophic damage when the storm makes landfall.

Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a category five storm on Monday

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Melissa was still 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Kingston late Monday, and reaching maximum wind speeds of 175 miles per hour.

The category five storm – which could be Jamaica’s most violent on record – is charting a painstakingly slow path through the Caribbean.

Melissa has already been blamed for three deaths in Jamaica, three deaths in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.

Its heavy rains combined with intense winds could wreak devastation on par with historic hurricanes, including 2017’s Maria or 2005’s Katrina, which left indelible impacts on Puerto Rico and the US city of New Orleans.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is causing such massive storms to become increasingly common in the region.

Footage has emerged from the eye of Hurricane Melissa after a specially adapted plane operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) flew into the center of the storm.

Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters expected it to unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage after it makes landfall some time on Tuesday.

At that strength, it would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.

Footage shot in the hurricane’s eye show the eerie calmness with clear blue, sunny skies up above, while the thick cloudy eye wall can be seen swirling around in the distance.

At one stage, as the aircraft makes a turn around the eye, the stormy waters of the Caribbean Sea can be seen churning thousands of feet below.

Prime minister Andrew Holness has said Jamaica’s infrastructure is unable to withstand a category five storm as Hurricane Melissa barrels towards the island.

The storm was expected to make landfall early on Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north, forecasters said.

Hours before the storm, the government said it had done all it could to prepare as it warned of catastrophic damage.

Mr Holness said the island’s western end faced the worst destruction.

‘I don’t believe there is any infrastructure within this region that could withstand a Category 5 storm, so there could be significant dislocation,’ he told CNN.

Jamaican officials urged the public to get to higher ground and shelters ahead of Hurricane Melissa’s expected landfall Tuesday, with the prime minister warning it could bring massive devastation

Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a press briefing that the evacuation was about ‘the national good of saving lives.’

You have been warned. It’s now up to you to use that information to make the right decision.

But despite pleas to evacuate, many Jamaican residents were staying put.

‘I am not moving. I don’t believe I can run from death,’ Roy Brown told AFP in Kingston’s seaside area of Port Royal.

The plumber and tiler said he was reluctant to flee because of his past experiences with the poor conditions of government hurricane shelters.

Fisherwoman Jennifer Ramdial agreed, adding: ‘I just don’t want to leave.’

Hello and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live coverage of Hurricane Melissa which threatens to bring chaos and destruction to Jamaica today.

Melissa – a category five storm – is expected to be the strongest to lash the island in its history with the government warning of possible catastrophic damage.

The storm was expected to make landfall early on Tuesday and slice diagonally across the island, entering near St Elizabeth parish in the south and exiting around St Ann parish in the north, forecasters said.

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported ahead of the storm, with officials in Jamaica cautioning that the clean-up and damage assessment would be slow.

Stick with us for updates throughout the day.