Name: Jamaicans begin surveying damage wrought by Hurricane Melissa
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T00:10:55.406Z
Duration: 4 min 6 s
Description: First light in Jamaica brought the first clear view of the devastation after Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane.

First light in Jamaica brought the first clear view of the devastation after Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane.

Kingston

Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, causing extensive damage and resulting in dozens of fatalities across Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola. The storm, which brought winds up to 185 miles per hour, stripped buildings, flooded roads, and left nearly 80 percent of Jamaica without power. Over 25,000 people are currently in shelters, and many communities remain cut off due to debris and mud.

Authorities are prioritizing the restoration of communications and clearing roads to reach isolated areas and hospitals. As the storm moves away from Jamaica, it has been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane but remains a threat to the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Bermuda, with warnings still in effect. Recovery efforts in Jamaica are expected to be long and challenging.

Jamaicans begin surveying damage wrought by Hurricane Melissa

Good evening. I'm Maurice Dubois. John Dickerson is on assignment. Hurricane Melissa has left dozens of people dead as it tore across the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola. It was downgraded today to a Category 1 but still dangerous storm. Melissa pouted Jamaica yesterday as a Cat 5, the most powerful hurricane ever to make landfall on the island. Jason Allen was there when it struck. Today he got a look at the damage. And Lonnie Quinn is tracking Melissa as it heads now for the Bahamas. But we begin with Jason in Santa Cruz, Jamaica. Jason? Maurice, on the main road that goes through Santa Cruz is just one lane of thick mud tonight. This was where a wall of water rushed down out of the mountains. It went right around homes and businesses. It picked up debris as it went. And it just went right through everything in its path. First light in Jamaica brought the first clear view of the devastation. Melissa made landfall yesterday as a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 185 miles per hour. The monster storm stripped buildings to the studs and covered roads in mud. We traveled from Jamaica's capital city to the town of Santa Cruz. The three-hour drive took us over rocks and debris, around fallen power lines, and at times off-road. It's very unlikely that we'll be able to resume school in any shape or form. At St. Elizabeth Technical High School, Principal Keith Wellington showed us where the wind blew the walls off classrooms. The students and teachers at this high school, they sheltered in one of the concrete buildings on campus. But this is one of their classrooms. The roof ripped off in the winds. And the walls, they are all piled on top of the desks and chairs where they would have been sitting on a normal day. We definitely will have to find a way to ensure that everyone is not totally displaced. Tonight, more than 25,000 people are in shelters, and nearly 80 percent of the island nation is without power. We met local politician Delroy Slowly as the town's one working front-end loader pushed mud off the one major road connecting his community to hard-hit Black River. In all of it, we still have to give God thanks for it. It could have been worse. You said that when you walked up. How could this have been worse? Lives. Lives. Many lives could have been lost. The damage was overwhelming. The St. John Parish Anglican Church was built roughly 200 years ago. Today, the only thing left standing is the steeple. The top priorities here are getting communications working again and getting these roads cleared. We're told there are patients in a hospital to the east. They want to move in that direction, but the roads have got to be clear for them to do that. Long, difficult road ahead. Jason Allen in Santa Cruz, Jamaica, thank you so much. Now to Lonnie Quinn with the latest on where Melissa is right now. Lonnie. Right now in the central Bahamas. Let's get straight to the latest numbers from the National Hurricane Center. 90 mile per hour winds, so it's a Category 1. It is moving quickly, though, to the northeast at 16 miles per hour. For a long time, this thing moved at 2, 3 miles per hour. Well, moving quickly right now, if you want to see where this is going, currently those hurricane warnings are in effect for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, but also Bermuda has a hurricane warning because although it's a Cat 1 right now, all of the water that lies ahead of it is very warm with no friction of the islands ahead of it. It's probably going to, you know, it would probably go up a category to a Cat 2. But look at how the storm is going to move. It moves to the northeast again quickly. It's not coming to the U.S. coastline. It's not. But it will influence the weather in the northeast. We have a low-pressure system moving to New York and Boston tomorrow. We have some pretty decent weather, but it becomes stronger weather when it starts tapping into the moisture from Melissa. Look how it actually pulls it up to places like Long Island, up into Boston, pushing out of the area by the time we get to tomorrow night. So Halloween for the northeast. For New York and Boston, you are dry, but the winds are just as strong, 30, 40 mile per hour gusts, which makes it kind of tough to dress the kids as they go out trick or treating. It's not going to be raining on the costumes, but, I mean, maybe they go out as a kite flyer or something. Not over yet, though. Lonnie Quinn, thanks so much.

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