Name: Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Jamaica
Uploaded: 2025-10-28T18:07:50.959Z
Duration: 5 min 10 s
Description: Hurricane Melissa, a massive Category 5 storm, made landfall in Jamaica, barreling in from the Atlantic with 185 mph sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center said. CBS News meteorologist Jessica Burch has more.

Hurricane Melissa, a massive Category 5 storm, made landfall in Jamaica, barreling in from the Atlantic with 185 mph sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center said. CBS News meteorologist Jessica Burch has more.

Kingston

Hurricane Melissa, classified as a Category 5 storm, has made landfall in Jamaica with sustained winds reaching 185 miles per hour. The hurricane is reported to be one of the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic, prompting widespread evacuations and emergency preparations across the island.

The storm is bringing significant rainfall, with forecasts of up to 40 inches in some areas, raising concerns about severe flooding and landslides, particularly in mountainous regions. Coastal communities are also facing storm surges as high as 13 feet. The hurricane is expected to continue its path toward Cuba and Bermuda, with authorities monitoring its progress closely.

Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Jamaica

A lot of people who watch hurricanes say you haven't seen anything yet. Hurricane Melissa, there she is, spinning out over the water. This is the result on land. This is the result at the beach side. It is a killer, winds clocking at a treacherous 185 miles per hour. So Melissa is a Category 5 hurricane, which is, by the way, the second strongest hurricane in the Atlantic ever. And happening right now, Melissa is hitting Jamaica. Now that has thousands evacuating while also spotted here. Second, gathering up supplies and boarding up windows. As a human being, I think they should evacuate and leave down here because down here does not look safe, doesn't look safe. She's slow and she's wide. So all areas of the island are expected to feel some impact. All areas to feel impacts. And so we have cameras and crews dispatched all throughout there. And these are the cameras that are still working right now. You see empty city streets where the power lines are zigzagging. You see waters that look angry and stirred up. And you start to see right there in other parts of Jamaica just those outer bands bringing a lot of moisture to the ground. We understand some 40 inches of rain expected to bring flood conditions. It will be perilous and no doubt deadly. CBS News correspondent Jason Allen brings us this report from Kingston, Jamaica, as areas brace for those winds and the rain. The wind is gusting here in Kingston this morning, but we are still experiencing a nice long break from the rain, which that's been a big concern here when we thought we could see a foot, foot and a half, two feet of rain that could potentially inundate some of the flooding areas here and some of those culverts that carry that rain and that runoff out of the mountains. Now, the wind is still a concern. We're kind of in a protected area here, but let's show you a little bit of the downtown, the midtown business district here where you can get a better sense of just how much the wind is blowing right now, up to 60 miles an hour at times. So that is a tropical storm strength wind that has been blowing. And there has been some really torrential bands of rainfall as well. What Melissa brings next, that's what everybody here is waiting to see. The strongest bands of the storm could still be ahead of us as Melissa comes on shore. And then that backside can always be really dangerous too. It may not have as much rain with it, but those winds, especially when they come from a different direction, can have a whole different impact when the storm hits. Jason, be safe out there. So that's the situation on the ground. But I want to ask meteorologist Jessica Birch here, who's tracking Melissa's path minute by minute. You know, you heard the member of the Red Cross saying she is wide and she is slow. What does that mean? Does that mean more devastation possible? I mean, this has been such a slow moving hurricane just itself. Over the weekend, it was at a tropical storm status. It hit warm sea surface temperatures. It underwent rapid intensification, jumping to a Category 5, now at 180 mile per hour winds, 185 actually. And as we take a look at the storm's track, it is a slow moving system as it starts to make its way over Jamaica. It's officially made landfall over Jamaica. We're continuing to watch that eye as it tracks just on that west side of the island. It's bringing in some of the worst damaging winds we've seen on that island. It's bringing in some of the heaviest rainfall we've seen, too. And that's happening right now. So I want to show you where it's at and where it's going. Our friends in Cuba are going to get impacted by this, too. With anywhere up to around 30 inches of rain from that exact same hurricane, about 40 inches expected all the way over into Jamaica and some of those higher elevated areas. Keep in mind, Jamaica's topography is interesting when it comes to those mountains. The Blue Mountains, just in those higher elevated areas, can expect landslides into the evening hours tonight. And on top of that, coastal storm surge is definitely possible, too, from this exact same system. Now it continues to track north into the evening hours tonight, pushing through Cuba, southeast Cuba. And they're going to expect heavy rainfall and storm surge, too, as that continues to make its way all the way up into Bermuda into the coming days. Now, I want to show you something else as well. Up to around 20 inches expected into eastern Cuba, about 15 inches expected. This is rainfall totals over into Haiti and Dominican Republic. But something else that's wild to think about, that storm surge, anywhere up to around 11 feet expected into Cuba, once it passes over Jamaica, and Jamaica's getting the worst of it, 13 feet there, just along those coastal communities. Now, as we take a look behind me, I want to show you some other things going on for us. That storm track continues to move its way north into Bermuda into the coming days. Here's where we are at right now. And I'm going to zoom in really close to the eye just to paint that picture. This is textbook definition of that eye wall as it moves its way over the island of Jamaica. Now officially made landfall, let's zoom in just a little bit closer, 180 mile, 185 mile per hour sustained winds at that center, putting it at a Category 5 status. That system will continue to track its way north, starting to lose some energy as it makes landfall, not over Jamaica necessarily, but Cuba and those island chains. As it moves its way over Cuba into the coming days and hits some cooler sea surface temperatures, we will start to watch this hurricane decay. But where it's at right now, still a Category 5 status. I'll have more on that in a bit and what it means when we're talking about tropical storm force winds versus hurricane force winds. Right around the corner. Reid. We'll have more coverage as Melissa makes landfall.

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