According to the NHC, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, developed in 1971 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist Robert Homer Simpson, is a rating of 1 to 5 based on a hurricane's sustained wind speed and its potential for significant loss of life and damage.

As the people of Jamaica are urged to 'seek shelter now' before Hurricane Melissa makes landfall, worrying forecasts show just how catastrophic this storm could be, with maps turning black in some pla

At least three people have been killed in Jamaica and more elsewhere in the Caribbean during the most powerful storm on the planet in 2025. For days, people have been bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Melissa – a Category 5 storm – and the catastrophic damage it is set to cause.

Hurricane Melissa— one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded—is now off Cuba’s eastern coast, after leaving a trail of destruction across the large island and its much smaller neighbor, Jamaica.

Founded in Santa Barbara in 1948 by Holocaust refugee William Zimdin, Direct Relief began as a small, personal effort to send supplies to war-torn Europe, Morain explained. “According to our history, his butler and his partner started sending relief packages from their pantry in Montecito.”

Hurricane Melissa is packing sustained winds of up to 175 m/h (282 km/h) as the slow-moving Category 5 storm barrels towards Jamaica, in what could be the largest on record for the Caribbean island.

The hurricane that tore through the Caribbean this week broke records, rapidly intensifying and surprising some meteorologists.

Hurricane Melissa is a Category 1 hurricane located about 255 miles north of Bermuda. The storm is sustaining winds of 90 mph and is moving northeast at 41 mph.