Jamaica is bracing for Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm and the world’s strongest hurricane of 2025, with meteorologists warning of “catastrophic and life-threatening winds, flooding, and storm surge.” The system, currently packing winds up to 175 mph (282 km/h), is expected to make landfall in the early hours of Tuesday, unleashing destruction across the Caribbean island.

Melissa has already been blamed for four deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where flash floods and mudslides swept through communities over the weekend. Its slow pace — described by experts as a “crawl” — has raised fears of torrential rain, flooding, and landslides that could persist for days.

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