Jamaica under hurricane warning as Melissa barely moves. Haiti could see ‘extensive’ damage
Tropical Storm Melissa is effectively parked in the central Caribbean, dumping devastating amounts of rain that has soaked Haiti and Jamaica, already claimed at least three lives and destroyed one bridge. And more rain is on the way.
The National Hurricane Center doesn’t expect Melissa to pick up the pace for days, however, it has continued to slightly tick up in speed Friday. The slow movement will bring a multi-day period of “damaging winds and heavy rainfall” that will begin as soon as Saturday night. Jamaica was put under a hurricane warning as of the hurricane center’s 11 p.m. advisory.
Haiti is expected to see catastrophic flash floods and landslides early next week causing “extensive infrastructural damage and potentially prolonged isolation of communities.” The southwestern peninsula of Haiti, from the border of the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince, was placed under a hurricane watch and a tropical-storm warning.
Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the NHC, said parts of the Dominican Republic have already received 15 or so inches of rain in the past few days. In a Friday afternoon broadcast, he called the rainfall forecast “ominous.”
“In the periphery of Haiti and Jamaica, up to 20 inches of rain are possible” over the next three days, on top of what they’ve already seen, he said. “You’re talking about catastrophic flooding potential.”
Melissa soon to become a hurricane
As of the 11 p.m. update, the hurricane center said Melissa ticked up to sluggishly moving northwest at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds remaining at 65 mph. It’s about 180 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 245 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Most of Melissa’s rainstorms and strong winds are clustered to its right side.
Melissa has begun to slowly move northwest before its expected turn toward the west over some of the hottest waters in the Caribbean — becoming a fountain of rain for the region as it grows stronger and broader.
By early next week, Melissa is expected to be a formidable Category 4 hurricane. At near its highest windspeeds, forecasters say Melissa will make landfall and pass through Jamaica on Monday and Tuesday. However, what path the center of the storm will take is still uncertain.
After it crosses Jamaica, Melissa will move through Cuba on Tuesday and Wednesday as it heads northeast back into the Atlantic.
The hurricane center’s forecast track only stretches to Wednesday, but long-range storm models, also known as spaghetti models, have continued to suggest that Melissa will head northeast after crossing Cuba and bypass Florida.
Exactly when Melissa makes its turn to the northeast is still unclear, and that matters a great deal to Jamaica and Haiti.
An earlier turn could mean a slightly weaker storm, one that is slowed by a landfall on Jamaica before it gets to Cuba and beyond. A later turn gives Melissa more time over some of the hottest waters in the Caribbean, which hasn’t seen a storm all season.
At this point, no long-range models are suggesting Melissa could be a serious threat to Florida.
Haiti, Jamaica already affected by Melissa
Haiti’s government reported Wednesday that one man died and five others were injured in Melissa-related winds and floods. Two people died and another was injured on Thursday in a landslide in Fontamara, an area south of Port-au-Prince, in the Ouest department.
Melissa’s floodwaters had already begun to claim homes and destroyed at least one bridge in Haiti, officials said.
READ MORE: Three dead in Haiti in landslides from Tropical Storm Melissa; Jamaica begins shut down
Forecasters are urging Haitians to make “immediate preparations to protect life and property.” For Jamaicans, the hurricane center said their preparations should be done by late Saturday.
During the weekend, Melissa is not expected to move much as it crawls west, drenching the central Caribbean with rain. It’s currently caught in a pocket of wind shear that’s helping to balance out the storm-fueling effects of the warmer-than-average waters it is crossing.
But that shear is expected to lighten up in the next few days, giving Melissa the chance to gain the juice needed to hit Category 4 by Sunday evening — or potentially even stronger.
“[The decreasing wind shear] should allow rapid development as the storm is located in a moist environment over very warm sea surface temperatures,” forecasters wrote in the 11 p.m. update Friday. “Despite the weaker guidance, there is still a possibility that Melissa could become a Category 5 hurricane during the forecast period.”
Miami Herald Staff Writer Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 24, 2025 at 7:56 AM with the headline "Jamaica under hurricane warning as Melissa barely moves. Haiti could see ‘extensive’ damage."
