Hurricane Melissa kills over 30 in the Caribbean as it heads toward the Bahamas. Image: CNN.
(The Post News)- Hurricane Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba early Wednesday, 29 October 2025 unleashing severe winds and heavy rains that damaged parts of the Island, officials have evacuated over 700 000 people.
Cuban President Confirms The Evacuations
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed that more than half a million people were evacuated. ” The total number exceeded 735,000 residents across eastern provinces. The storm destroyed the region with heavy rain and destructive winds,” President Diaz-Canel said. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the Category 3 storm struck near Chivirico, in the province of Santiago de Cuba with heavy winds reaching 193 kilometres per hour.
NHC reported that Melissa generated a storm surge of up to 3.6 metres along parts of the coast and drop as much as 51 centimetres of rain, increasing fears of landslides and severe flooding. The forecasters added that at least 241 communities in Santiago province remained isolated and without communication on Wednesday afternoon, “leaving an estimated 140,000 people cut off from emergency services.”
“Life threatening storms, flooding and landslides are still ongoing this afternoon,” the NHC said in a statement. Reports indicate that Hurricane Melissa had weakened slightly to a Category 2 storm as it moved north of Cuba, but forecasters warned it remained a significant threat to the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, where damaging winds and coastal flooding are expected.
Officials stated that recovery operations in Cuba would begin once conditions improve though the extent of the destruction is not yet clear.
Hurricane Melissa Kills Over 30 in Caribbean
According to officials, at least 30 people have been killed in southern Haiti after a river overflowed its banks amid torrential rains from Hurricane Melissa. The mayor of Petit-Goâve, Jean Bertrand Subrème, confirmed the deaths and said several residents remain trapped in homes that collapsed under the force of the floodwaters.
“I am overwhelmed by the situation,” Subrème stated. He added that he has urgently appealed for government assistance as his community struggles to cope with the aftermath.
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