Hurricane Melissa is now moving northeast from Cuba after hammering the island with powerful winds and rain. As the storm scrapes Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas with its destructive force, residents in low-lying and flood prone areas have been urged to evacuate ahead of a shelter-in-place order coming tonight.

Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica on Tuesday, prompting the prime minister to declare the country a disaster area, after the storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.

The State Department activated a Caribbean disaster response team following Hurricane Melissa's devastating impact on Jamaica, with teams arriving Thursday to provide aid.

Damage assessment was underway in Jamaica Wednesday, with four people dead and 70 percent of the island without power, after the storm moved on to Cuba

Hurricane Melissa, the strongest tropical cyclone of 2025, disrupts Caribbean travel, closing airports and causing widespread flight cancellations.

The center of Hurricane Charlie skirted the southern coast of Jamaica on the night of Aug. 17, 1951, before it made landfall early the next morning as a strong Category 3 storm, bringing destructive winds to the entirety of the island, according to the NHC. The strongest winds at Kingston were measured at 110 mph.

A County flight crew prepares to deliver relief supplies to Jamaica later this week as catastrophic Hurricane Melissa slams the island.

The National Hurricane Center warned Jamaican residents to take immediate cover as the eye of the "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Melissa began to make landfall on the southwest coast of the island Tuesday morning.