Hurricane Melissa: Category 5 storm bears down on Jamaica (Live updates)

Hurricane Melissa approached Jamaica early Tuesday, a monstrous Category 5 storm packing devastating winds and torrential rains as the strongest storm ever to impact the Caribbean island.

While Jamaica has experienced hurricanes for centuries, the strongest storm to hit the island was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Gilbert approached as a Category 4 storm, but Evan Thompson, the chief of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, said it crossed Jamaica as a Category 3.

Storm strengthens to 180 mph

Update 9:09 a.m. ET March 28: The National Hurricane Center said in a special update that Hurricane Melissa’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 180 mph.

As the storm approaches west of Kingston, the central barometric pressure of the storm continues to drop, falling to 896 millibars at 9 a.m. ET.

Melissa’s center was located about 50 miles south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 260 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba.

The hurricane center will issue another update at 10 a.m. ET.

Storm creeping closer to Jamaica

Update 7:57 a.m. ET March 28: In its 8 a.m. ET intermediate advisory on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center reported Melissa’s center about 55 miles south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and about 265 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds estimated near 175 mph and was moving toward the north-northeast at 7 mph.

“Little change in strength is expected before Melissa makes landfall on Jamaica,” the hurricane center said in a statement. “Catastrophic winds, flash flooding and storm surge is expected on the island.”

The NHC will issue a full advisory at 11 a.m. ET.

Original report: Melissa is the third Category 5 storm to form in the Atlantic basin this hurricane season. The only season with more Category 5s was 2005, when four reached the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Melissa currently poses no threat to the United States mainland.

At 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center reported Melissa’s center about 115 miles west-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and 290 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba. The storm was packing winds maximum sustained winds estimated near 175 mph and was moving slowly toward the north-northeast at 5 mph.

According to the hurricane center, Melissa was expected to make landfall near the Black River on Jamaica’s southwestern coast before moving inland sometime Tuesday.

Melissa then is forecast to hit the eastern portion of Cuba near Santiago de Cuba between late Tuesday and early Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, with winds expected to top 115 mph.

“Melissa is expected to reach Jamaica and southeastern Cuba as an extremely dangerous major hurricane, and it will still be at hurricane strength when it moves across the southeastern Bahamas” on Wednesday, the hurricane center said in its 5 a.m. advisory.

Residents in Jamaica were preparing for the worst, expecting catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage.

By early Tuesday, the central barometric pressure of the storm had dropped to 901 millibars. That is the third-lowest pressure for an October hurricane in the Atlantic basin since pressures were first recorded in 1979, according to Colorado State University hurricane research scientist Phil Klotzbach. The lowest pressures measured during an actual storm are 882 millibars, set by Hurricane Wilma in 2005; and 895 millibars, achieved by Hurricane Milton in 2024.

The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane reportedly measured 892 millibars and had winds of approximately 185 mph when it came onshore in the Florida Keys on Oct. 2, 1935.

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