Impact and Devastation

On October 28th, 2025, the streets of Kingston were not the usual music-filled, lively hubs of art and food. It was barricaded, dark and gray, empty. On October 28th, Hurricane Melissa made landfall. Melissa made her impact in waves, resulting in hundreds of power outages in the Caribbean before even making landfall. Airports closed, tourists left in hordes, and the islands across the Caribbean braced for impact. Winds roared at a record-breaking 252 miles per hour just prior to making landfall. Melissa tore through Jamaica and Cuba, destroying homes, flooding businesses, and killing both people and animals.

By the early days of November, the storm had passed. However, the destruction it had caused became clearer. The aftermath caused $10 billion worth of destruction, making it the costliest disaster in Jamaican history. Power outages were persistent, and bacterial infections spread. The reaction to the disaster included the swift involvement of neighboring departments and militaries to help recover people and things. Various hurricane relief packages were dropped across Jamaica, including a donation from the Miami Heat.

The severity of the storm has raised questions and controversy in topics such as climate change and equity. Some university students have decried the consideration of Melissa as a “fluke event” rather than an effect of climate change. Colin Hamilton of The Daily Campus called the political response “disgusting in its ignorance,” ignoring the fundamental change in weather caused by climate change. Several politicians, however, maintain that it was an isolated incident and that the disaster response was a success. 

The 2025 hurricane season was quieter than usual, but severe storms like Melissa were more intense than ever. It has also highlighted the increasing political divide regarding both climate change and disaster response. With intense and destructive natural disasters becoming more rampant, it is important that we find solutions—both in response and in policy.