Caribbean. Hurricane Melissa, downgraded to Category 4, leaves Jamaica and heads toward Cuba.

On X, meteorologist Serge Zaka describes it as " one of the worst modern weather disasters" and "a scenario worthy of Hollywood": Melissa "is blowing with gusts measured at 387 km/h at an altitude of 216 m by a NOAA probe," he writes.

Hurricane Melissa is the most powerful tropical storm of 2025 worldwide, according to an AFP analysis of weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The fifth Category 5 tropical storm recorded in 2025, Melissa is more powerful, in terms of wind speed (298 km/h) and pressure (892 millibars), than Cyclone Errol, Hurricanes Erin and Humberto, and Typhoon Ragasa. Typhoon Ragasa, which hit East Asia in September, was previously considered the most violent of the year, with winds peaking at 267 km/h and a minimum pressure of 910 mb.

Concerns about Melissa are heightened because landslides had already occurred in Jamaica before her arrival, with some areas having received significant rainfall in recent weeks, said Esther Pinnock, communications officer for the Red Cross in Jamaica.

However, "water kills far more people than wind," says meteorologist Kerry Emanuel, who emphasizes the role played by climate change. By warming the seas, it leads to the rapid intensification of a greater number of storms, as was the case with Hurricane Melissa.

Downpours, floods, landslides... On X, journalists from the Jamaican channel CVM Television and the Jamaica Gleaner and Jamaica Observer newspapers published numerous videos of the first damage caused by Melissa.

Despite the trauma of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and Hurricane Beryl last year, the scars of which are still visible, many Jamaicans refuse to evacuate their homes as Melissa approaches.

"Even if it was a Category 6, I wouldn't move," said Roy Brown, a plumber and tiler, on Monday in Port Royal, a small coastal town near the capital Kingston. He said many people have bad memories of the hurricane shelters offered by the authorities.

More than 800 locations have been identified as potential refuges. On Monday evening, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie expressed regret that only 76 were being used.

On X, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) announces that Hurricane Melissa, "one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin," " made landfall in southwest Jamaica near New Hope with estimated sustained winds of 185 mph."

"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the NHC continued, recommending that residents remain in their shelters.

“To protect yourself from the wind, the best thing to do is to position yourself between as many walls as possible and the outside. A windowless interior room, ideally one where you can also avoid falling trees, is the safest place you can be in a building.”

Hurricane Melissa, which has been hitting the Caribbean since Tuesday, is of unprecedented violence, a direct result of global warming. Jamaica, which has been particularly hard hit, is expecting considerable destruction and a massive human toll.

>> Read our article here.

On X, Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt asks his compatriots to "stay safe."

For the past 24 hours, the 39-year-old athlete with 4.6 million followers has been posting numerous safety recommendations on his account for his compatriots.

With sustained winds now reaching 295 kilometers per hour, Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, is now more powerful than Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans 20 years ago and killed more than 1,000 people.

The hurricane continues to strengthen as it approaches Jamaica, where it is expected to make landfall soon.

The hurricane continues to move slowly, at a speed of 11 kilometers per hour, meteorologist Evan Thompson, director of the Jamaica Meteorological Service, said at a press conference, reported by the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

In a bulletin issued at 11 a.m. in the United States (10 a.m. in Jamaica and 4 p.m. in France), the American Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts that "the center of Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica in the next few hours, cross southeast Cuba early Wednesday morning, and then cross the southeast or central Bahamas later in the day."

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced on X that Hurricane Melissa "continues to gain strength." The NHC said that "catastrophic winds are moving toward southern Jamaica," and recommended people take shelter.

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), Jamaica's sole electricity provider, reports that approximately 240,000 of its customers, or 35 percent, are currently without power, according to the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. According to the JPS, The most affected parishes (the country's main local government units) are St Elizabeth, Manchester, Hanover and St James.

The roof of a business in Montego Bay blew off around 3 a.m. Tuesday due to strong winds, according to the Jamaica Observer. "A Montego Bay business was one of the first victims of Hurricane Melissa after part of its roof was damaged," the daily wrote on X.

Even as Melissa moves away from the Dominican Republic, authorities there now fear flooding and landslides. The associated rains are particularly threatening the southwest of the island and populations in the border region with Haiti.

"The powerful hurricane Melissa continues to carry clouds and generate rain, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusts of wind in several parts of the country, which keeps several provinces on alert," the national meteorological service Indomet stressed on Tuesday.

Authorities have therefore recommended that small and medium-sized boats "remain in port due to dangerous wind and waves," particularly on the country's southern coast.

"As Hurricane Melissa approaches the coast, Jamaica is waking up to a mix of powerful and disturbing scenes: swollen rivers, rising sea levels, and strong winds sweeping through several parishes," the Jamaica Observer wrote on X, in a post accompanied by videos. The daily newspaper added: "Throughout the night and into the early hours, heavy rains and gusty winds put a strain on communities across the island."

While political authorities and emergency services are organizing and disseminating appropriate messages to at-risk populations, dozens of misleading content has been identified on social media by AFP, most of it bearing the watermark of Sora, a video generation model from OpenAI.

Fake news reports, images of severe flooding, marauding sharks, harrowing scenes of human suffering... Some videos depict fabricated scenarios. Others appeared to depict locals, often with thick Jamaican accents to reinforce stereotypes, partying, sailing, jet-skiing, or swimming happily before the hurricane's arrival.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the military, announced that it had called up the National Reserve in response to the threat of the hurricane, according to The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper said: "Our forces, including the Jamaican National Reserve, will be on the ground to support relief operations, protect communities and restore essential services as quickly as possible," Acting Chief of Staff Brigadier O'Neil Bogle told the newspaper.

Fueled by the unusually warm waters of the Caribbean, Storm Melissa has become a Category 5 hurricane, the maximum level on the Saffir-Simpson scale , which moves at very low speeds, around 5 km/h, a combination that could amplify its effects, between virulent winds and torrential rains.

The hurricane is expected to dump between 50 and 63 centimeters of rain on parts of Jamaica. Scientists explain that storms that rapidly intensify while stalling are on the rise as the climate warms.

If it continues to intensify, it will be the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica since weather monitoring began. Prime Minister Andrew Holness has warned of particularly severe damage in the west of the country.

"I don't think any infrastructure in this region can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, so there could be significant destruction," he told CNN, calling on residents to evacuate the most at-risk areas.

The footage of the hurricane's eye, filmed by the US Air Force, is impressive. Their mission was to locate the center of the hurricane and assess its danger.

The eye of the cyclone is expected to hit Jamaica late this afternoon, French time.

After Jamaica in the late afternoon, Melissa is expected to hit Cuba overnight, where authorities have begun closing schools and evacuating residents as a power outage prevents warning messages from being properly disseminated.

Melissa moves very slowly, at a speed of 5 km/h, which can cause terrible damage.

Continuing north, the hurricane could then hit the southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory, as early as Wednesday.

"This is a massive hurricane," said Anne-Claire Fontan, a tropical cyclone specialist at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. "There will be catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides," she said. If it continues, it will be the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica since meteorological records began. "This is the storm of the century for Jamaica so far," she said.

At least "1.5 million people could be affected, including families still recovering from Hurricane Beryl," the head of delegation for the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean at the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) told a press conference.

"But this figure is a significant underestimate, as the impact on the population will include disruptions to essential services, disruptions to markets, and of course, road blockages. This means that the entire population could be affected in one way or another," he added, speaking from Trinidad and Tobago.

The much-feared Hurricane Melissa, which is hitting the Caribbean, arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday, where it threatens to cause catastrophic damage.

With winds of up to 280 kilometers per hour, the Category 5 hurricane, the highest in strength, has already caused three deaths in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic.

According to local authorities, the three people who died in Jamaica lost their lives while preparing for the hurricane's arrival, cutting branches and working on ladders.