Hurricane Melissa Devastates Jamaica: Record-Breaking Category 5 Storm Leaves Island in Ruins
Jamaica reels after the strongest hurricane in its history makes landfall near New Hope with 185 mph winds and catastrophic flooding.
Kingston, October 28 EST: By mid-afternoon, it was chaos. The sky had turned the color of wet steel, the air thick and loud. Hurricane Melissa came roaring into Jamaica like something out of a bad dream Category 5, winds around 185 miles an hour, the kind that tear up roads and rip the skin off buildings.
It made landfall near New Hope, a quiet coastal stretch in the southwest. It’s quiet no longer. Whole streets vanished under water. Palm trees folded. Roofs scattered like playing cards. What used to be homes are just piles of wood now.
One man in Savanna-la-Mar managed to call a radio station before the line died. “The roof went first,” he said. “Then the wall. Then we just ran.” The host tried to reply, but the station went silent seconds later.
Hardest Hit In Modern Memory
According to ABC News, Melissa’s pressure bottomed near 892 millibars a number that means, in simple terms, there’s almost no air left in the center. That’s record territory. Meteorologists are comparing it to Hurricane Dorian and Wilma, the monsters everyone remembers.
By dusk, Westmoreland looked shredded. Cars half-buried. Power lines twisted in the street. Rain still hammering sideways. The Weather Channel said the storm had tied the record for strongest modern landfall in the Atlantic. You could feel it even miles inland, the wind felt alive.
“No Infrastructure Can Withstand This”
Prime Minister Andrew Holness had warned the island days earlier: “There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5.” He wasn’t exaggerating.
Deputy disaster chief Desmond McKenzie told people to stay home, not to play hero. “This is not the time to be brave,” he said in a briefing that sounded more like a plea.
Still, some stayed put. Others couldn’t leave in time. By late evening, at least seven people across the Caribbean were confirmed dead three in Jamaica, three in Haiti, one in the Dominican Republic and rescuers fear there are more.
Everything Went Dark
Right after the eye passed, Jamaica went dark. Power gone. Radios silent. No cell signal. Even Kingston’s usually busy streets were empty just sirens and the sound of metal scraping across concrete.
The Jamaican Defence Force has crews waiting in Kingston and Montego Bay, ready to move when winds drop. For now, they can’t. Roads are blocked, bridges gone, and the rain hasn’t stopped. “We can’t see what we’re dealing with yet,” one officer said. “We’ll find out when the sun comes up.”
In some shelters, water is waist-high. Families are sleeping on tables, clutching dry clothes in plastic bags. Nobody’s sure what’s still standing out west.
A Storm That Built Itself Overnight
Meteorologists are still shaking their heads. Melissa went from a tropical storm to a killer in less than two days. “It’s the speed that’s terrifying,” a senior forecaster told local TV. “You blink and it’s a Category 5.”
Warm ocean water record-warm fed it nonstop. By the time it reached Jamaica, it was past the point of control.
What Comes Next
The storm is now pushing north toward eastern Cuba and the southeast Bahamas, both under full hurricane warnings. If it keeps its shape, it could lash the Turks and Caicos by Tuesday.
For the U.S., it’s mostly an ocean story but the Outer Banks and parts of Florida’s coast will feel it through big surf and rough tides. Officials there are already warning beachgoers to stay out of the water.
Picking Up The Pieces
When dawn breaks, rescue teams will head into what’s left of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth. No one’s sure how bad it is communications are still out. The Red Cross and CDEMA are staging supplies from Barbados and Grand Cayman, waiting for the first safe flights.
The talk in Kingston tonight isn’t about recovery. It’s about survival.
“It’s not just the houses,” said a woman sheltering at a downtown school. “It’s everything. The schools, the roads, the farms gone.”
A Warmer Ocean, A Harder Future
Melissa is already the fifth Category 5 hurricane this year. That number should scare everyone. Hotter seas are turning storms into beasts, and they’re doing it faster than anyone expected.
Scientists can debate that later. Right now, Jamaica’s in the dark, trying to count the damage by flashlight.
Out in the streets, the wind still whistles through broken windows. Somewhere beyond the city, the waves keep pounding the coast. And people just keep waiting for morning.
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Trained in war zones, raised in Newark, and seasoned in city hall, Jordan blends grit reporting with deep integrity. From floods to finance bills, they’re always first on scene and last to leave.
