With winds recorded at 296 kilometres per hour, Hurricane Melissa has matched the two other most intense phenomena ever to have made landfall since measurements have been carried out regularly. Those being the Labor Day hurricane, which devastated Florida in 1935, and Dorian, which in 2019 claimed the lives of 75 people in the Bahamas. It comes as no surprise, then, that Melissa's passage through the Caribbean nations has been catastrophic.

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Satellite imagery shows Hurricane #Melissa's growth from its formation on October 21 to a Category 5 hurricane through October 27, 2025. #HurricaneMelissa

♥ 4555💬 31 27 ott 2025 · Apri su X →

The toll, still provisional, stands at 49 confirmed deaths: 30 in Haiti and 19 in Jamaica. The material damage is equally enormous: homes reduced to rubble, entire neighbourhoods flooded, communication routes cut off. The hurricane, which is now heading for the Bermuda archipelago further north, had reached Category 5, the maximum possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, though experts now forecast a partial weakening of the phenomenon as it continues its path towards higher latitudes.

Dennis Zulu, UN coordinator for the Caribbean: "The destruction is immense"

"The destruction is immense, unprecedented. Homes, roads, communication networks and energy infrastructure," said Dennis Zulu, United Nations coordinator for the Caribbean nations. "Our initial assessment indicates that Jamaica has been devastated at levels never seen before," he added.

The island nation's government has deployed the army to the affected areas. It is estimated that approximately 1.5 million people have been affected in various ways, out of a total population of 2.8 million. The international community is meanwhile mobilising: the United States has dispatched rescue teams to Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela has already sent 26,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Cuba. El Salvador has announced that it has made available aircraft and three hundred personnel, who are preparing to reach Jamaica. The United Kingdom and France have also announced aid.

Hurricane Melissa, an early study highlights the role of climate change

Meanwhile, an early study on Hurricane Melissa underscores the role of anthropogenic climate warming, which has quadrupled the likelihood of such an event occurring, as well as amplifying the intensity of the phenomenon. The study was conducted by Imperial College London. Ralf Toumi, who led the research, noted that "these storms will cause even more damage in the future if we continue to warm the planet by burning fossil fuels".

"Every climate disaster reminds us of the urgency of limiting the rise in average global temperature, and the fact that every tenth of a degree counts," echoed Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the Unfccc, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.