Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica.
Hurricane Melissa tore a path of destruction across Jamaica after the storm made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, one of the most powerful landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin.
After lashing Jamaica with dangerous winds and flooding rain, Melissa made a second landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning. Melissa then moved through the Bahamas, and next, on Thursday night, the storm will pass Bermuda as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the U.S. stands ready to offer immediate humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people. Initially, the U.S. excluded Cuba from the list of countries it was helping with Hurricane Melissa relief efforts.
Melissa, now a Category 2 hurricane, has passed the Bahamas and is moving northeast over open waters.
Melissa will gain speed before passing west of Bermuda on Thursday night as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.
Hurricane-force winds are possible, prompting a hurricane warning for Bermuda. But only 1 inch of rain is expected.
Melissa won’t make any other landfalls.
On Friday night, Melissa’s remnants could bring wind and rain to Newfoundland, Canada.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel told a meeting of the country's National Defense Council on Wednesday that no fatalities related to Hurricane Melissa had so far been recorded on the island.
"We are alive, our triumph is life itself," Diaz-Canel told the council, as quoted in a readout published by the president's office.
"That the population of the eastern provinces has withstood, without loss of life so far, the brutal onslaught of the monstrous hurricane is no miracle," he said. "The hardest task -- recovery -- is about to begin."
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness posted videos to X on Wednesday showing the devastation wrought to western parts of the island by the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
In the St. James area in the northwest of Jamaica, Holness said, residents "suffered significant damage including severe flooding."
