Hurricane Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba on Wednesday, just hours after hitting Jamaica with record-breaking winds that left the island paralysed and braced for fatalities.
Hurricane Melissa, a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), struck Cuba’s southern coast early on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Authorities reported the evacuation of around 735,000 people from eastern provinces ahead of the storm’s arrival.
The hurricane reached Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 system — the strongest ever recorded on the island — with winds up to 185 mph. The southwestern town of New Hope took the brunt of the impact, with entire communities submerged and more than 500,000 people left without electricity.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN that although no confirmed fatalities had yet been reported, “some loss of life” was expected due to widespread damage to homes, hospitals and infrastructure. “The reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure,” he said.
AccuWeather meteorologists ranked Melissa as the Caribbean’s third most intense hurricane on record, after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 — the last major storm to directly hit Jamaica.
Local reports said at least three people died in Jamaica during preparations, and a senior disaster official was hospitalised after suffering a stroke as the storm made landfall. By late Tuesday, large areas remained inaccessible due to flooding and debris.
In the Bahamas, officials ordered evacuations in the southern islands, bracing for the storm’s next move. Further east, at least four people were reported dead after days of heavy rain in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Scientists have linked the increasing intensity of tropical storms like Melissa to rising ocean temperatures, prompting renewed calls from Caribbean leaders for climate-related reparations or debt relief from major polluting nations.
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Clashes between protesters and police erupted in Paris and Marseille on Saturday as demonstrations over rising living costs and declining public services continued for a fourth consecutive weekend across France.
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Poland has declared two days of national mourning after a gunman opened fire in Kraków's historic main square. Investigators are examining possible far-right influences and the discovery of three bodies at the suspect's home.
Monday marks the second of two days of national mourning in Poland as police bolstered security after six people were killed in a mass shooting in Kraków.
Russian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early on Saturday, 7 November, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings, just three days before U.S.-led peace talks with Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-aligned group towards Riyadh on Sunday (8 November), after loud booms were heard in the Saudi capital. The Aramco building was damaged by falling debris.
New Zealand’s ruling centre-right National Party has taken a narrow lead over the opposition Labour Party in Saturday’s general election, with the country’s current three-party coalition projected to retain power.
Monday marks the second of two days of national mourning in Poland as police bolstered security after six people were killed in a mass shooting in Kraków.
Clashes between protesters and police erupted in Paris and Marseille on Saturday as demonstrations over rising living costs and declining public services continued for a fourth consecutive weekend across France.
Security measures have been stepped up in Antalya, Türkiye, ahead of the COP31 United Nations climate summit, which begins on Monday, 9 November, with thousands of additional personnel deployed across the Mediterranean city.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) dismissed a new U.S. military operation targeting the movement of weapons and sanctioned materials on Sunday, 8 November, saying Washington would fail to isolate the Iranian economy despite expanding restrictions on maritime and land routes.
A Russian overnight attack on energy infrastructure in Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region left more than 600,000 people without electricity on Sunday, 8 November, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said.
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