Overview
- The National Hurricane Center reported Melissa at Category 1 strength near the southeastern Bahamas with sustained winds around 150 km/h and warned of hurricane conditions, dangerous surf and heavy rain.
- Preliminary tolls vary, with reports of roughly 30 fatalities across the region, including at least 20–25 in Haiti, several in Jamaica and one in the Dominican Republic.
- Cuba reported mass evacuations of about 735,000 people in eastern provinces and severe flooding, infrastructure damage and widespread blackouts after landfall near Chivirico in Santiago de Cuba.
- Jamaica declared a nationwide disaster zone after Category 5 landfall, with extensive damage to homes and utilities, hundreds of thousands without power and airports beginning to reopen to support relief.
- Relief efforts accelerated as the UN prepared emergency kits and partner nations deployed teams, though assessments and deliveries were slowed by outages, severed communications and blocked roads.