Tropical Storm Melissa is forecast to rapidly intensify to a Category 4 hurricane. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season so far. “The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of ‘life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides’ throughout Hispaniola,” Patrick Smith, Josh Cradduck, and Kate Reilly report for NBC.
At least 3 people have been killed in Haiti as Tropical Storm Melissa causes devastating flooding in the Caribbean, and meteorologists warn the storm could become a Category 4 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of “life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and landslides” throughout the weekend in Jamaica and southern Hispaniola, the island that comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It will bring up to 14 inches of rain in the coming days and potentially the same amount to Jamaica, the NHC said. [. . .]
“The rainfall is a huge risk with the storm,” said Michael Brennan, director of the NHC. “Rainfall has historically been the biggest cause of loss of life of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean.”
In an 11 a.m. ET update on Friday, the NHC said the storm is drifting east-southeastward at 2 MPH. At the time of the update, the storm was 215 miles south-east of Kingston, the Jamaican capital, and 250 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
The Haitian Civil Protection Agency said that two people died Thursday in a landslide in Fontamara, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Earlier, the agency said a man in his 70s was killed by a falling tree in the southern coastal town of Marigot, while five people were injured in the Artibonite region.
Already, dozens of water supply systems are offline in the Dominican Republic, affecting more than 500,000 customers, with downed trees and traffic lights causing disruption. [. . .]
For more details, see https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/storms/haiti-tropical-storm-melissa-heavy-rain-devasting-floods-rcna239524
Also see https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2025-10-24-tropical-storm-melissa-forecast-hurricane-caribbean-jamaica-haiti
[Photo above by Eddy Vittini / Reuters: A street flooded by rains caused by Tropical Storm Melissa, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Thursday.]