Overview
- The National Hurricane Center says Melissa is approaching the southeastern Bahamas with hurricane conditions, dangerous storm surge and heavy rain, with a short window possible for reintensification and a track passing west of Bermuda late Thursday.
- Preliminary regional fatalities are in the dozens and still being verified, including at least 25 deaths in Haiti linked to the La Digue river flooding, with additional deaths reported in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
- Cuba reports extensive flooding, infrastructure damage and mass outages after landfall in Santiago de Cuba and an exit near Holguín, with roughly 735,000 people evacuated across eastern provinces.
- Jamaica was declared a disaster zone after a Category 5 strike left widespread destruction, more than 500,000 without power and tens of thousands in shelters, as authorities begin reopening airports for aid operations.
- International assistance is mobilizing, with the United Nations sending emergency kits and the United States deploying disaster response and urban search-and-rescue teams, while Bahamian authorities warn of surge and evacuate residents in the far southeast islands.