Photos show the catastrophic damage Hurricane Melissa wreaked on homes, businesses, and infrastructure across the Caribbean

• Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm.
• It’s one of the strongest Atlantic Basin hurricanes on record, with wind speeds of up to 185 mph.
• Photos show its impact on the population, and devastation to local businesses and infrastructure.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Tuesday, slamming Jamaica with wind speeds of up to 185 miles per hour and devastating homes, local businesses, and infrastructure across the Caribbean.

Hurricane Melissa is one of the strongest hurricanes on record to ever hit the Atlantic Basin, The Weather Channel reported, and its top sustained wind speed was stronger than that of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

On Wednesday, Jamaica woke up to downed trees, widespread power outages, and flooding reaching the roofs of two-story buildings.

The storm left over 530,000 Jamaicans without power, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center estimated that parts of the island could receive up to 30 inches of rain due to the hurricane’s slow movement.

Later on Wednesday, Hurricane Melissa went on to make landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm.

At least 25 people were killed by flooding caused by the hurricane in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, its mayor told The Associated Press Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, three people had died in Jamaica and one in the Dominican Republic, CBS News reported.

Photos show the storm’s catastrophic damage.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as the most powerful storm on Earth this year and one of the strongest storms ever to hit the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane Melissa tied with Hurricane Dorian from 2019 and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for the strongest landfall winds in the Atlantic Basin.

Businesses shuttered ahead of the storm’s arrival on Tuesday.

Jamaica’s major airports also closed ahead of the storm.

Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s Minister for Energy, Science, Telecommunications, and Transport, said he hoped Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport could reopen for emergency flights on Thursday.

The hurricane pummeled Jamaica with winds of up to 185 miles per hour.

The winds uprooted trees and downed power lines.

Over 530,000 Jamaicans lost power as a result of the storm.

On Wednesday morning, Jamaica’s information minister, Dana Morris Dixon, said that utility crews had begun restoring power to 77% of the country that lost power during the storm, per CNN.

Over 75% of the island lost power and internet access.

As the morning came, most of the island lacked access to telecommunications, especially those in the western regions of the island, which were the hardest hit, reported The New York Times.

In Manchester, Jamaica, the hurricane ripped the roofs off houses.

Some regions, like Manchester in Jamaica, saw severe damage to properties, with many houses and businesses having their roofs ripped, while some coastal areas were hit with storm surges of up to 13 feet, as reported by ABC.

Whole sections of the roof were blown off St. Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz, Jamaica.

The region known as “Jamaica’s breadbasket” also saw considerable damage to fields and crops, the BBC reported.

Fallen trees blocked roads and caused further damage to vehicles.

Flying debris and downed trees affected transportation on some of the island roads, damaging vehicles along the hurricane’s path.

Torrential rain flooded streets in St. Catherine, Jamaica.

A health agency serving the region of St. Catherine also warned residents of displaced crocodiles seeking drier ground as roads flooded in residential areas, the agency posted on X.

Flooding and debris also affected the streets of Santa Cruz, Jamaica.

Flooded roads and debris in the streets have also affected transportation in many of the country’s communities, leaving some rural areas isolated as relief efforts begin to mobilize.

In Montego Bay, Jamaica, a hotel was damaged by the storm’s powerful winds.

The Montego Bay region on Jamaica’s northern coast is the country’s main tourist destination. Some hotels in the region were severely damaged by the storm, raising concerns for the recovery of the local economy.

The city of Montego Bay was also split in half due to flooded roads following the hurricane’s landfall, the BBC reported.

In eastern Cuba, around 735,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday before the hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday.

The storm made landfall in Cuba with sustained wind speeds of 120 miles per hour.

The hurricane made landfall in the province of Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city in Cuba.

The Cuban government announced Wednesday that the storm had cut off some 140,000 people in 241 communities hit hardest by the hurricane’s landfall.

Flooding and debris blocked the roads in Contramaestre — a town north of Melissa’s landfall in Chivirico — isolating communities in Guaninao and Ruta Martina, CNN reported.

Some residents experienced the collapse of their homes as the storm hit the island.

On Wednesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that it had been “a very complex early morning” as the island sustained considerable damage, he posted on X.

The storm also affected other parts of the Caribbean, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas.

On Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said that the Dominican Republic and Haiti would face “catastrophic flash flooding and landslides” as well as damage and isolation to the impacted communities.

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