3 hours ago
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October 26, 2025 — 4.28pm
Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to rapidly intensify over the next 24 hours, threatening catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.
At 2pm Sunday AEDT, the hurricane was located about 450 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometres per hour.
Melissa is now a Category 3 hurricane.Credit: WeatherZone
The US Hurricane Centre said it was category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale and could make Category 4. The slow-moving and erratic storm was expected to be a major hurricane when it makes landfall early this week.
“Life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides are expected in portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica into early next week,” the centre said in a statement.
Hurricane Melissa has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
The US Navy began evacuating hundreds of American citizens and their pets to Florida from the base at Guantanamo Bay on Sunday AEDT, days before the expected arrival in that portion of Cuba, The New York Times reported.
Heavy rain causes havoc in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from Melissa, then a tropical storm and now a Category 3 hurricane.Credit: Ricardo Hernandez / AP
In Jamaica, more than 650 shelters were activated. Officials said warehouses across the island were well stocked and thousands of food packages were ready for quick distribution if needed.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: “I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously. Take all measures to protect yourself.”
Haitian authorities said three people had died because of the hurricane and another five were injured by a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne in the north-east.
Haitian department director of civil protection Ronald Delice said: “The storm is causing a lot of concern with the way it’s moving.”
Local authorities in Haiti organised lines to distribute food kits.
The storm has damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, caused a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the south-east and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
AP, Reuters
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