Destruction of buildings, catastrophic damage, trees snapping, roadblocks, flying debris; all these things occur in 180mph winds. According to the U.S. Department of State, on October 28th, Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica with wind speeds up to 185 mph. This caused flooding in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. As stated by ABC News, the number of people who have passed from the conditions of Hurricane Melissa has reached 75, including people from both Jamaica and Haiti. There is research that says up to 600,000 people have been affected by the storm, with over 120,000 buildings being destroyed. 

To gather more information on Hurricane Melissa, I interviewed Ms. Alexander, who is a physics and chemistry teacher at C. Milton Wright. She stated that some factors that caused this storm can include “warm waters in the ocean and winds from Africa that combine to make a really strong storm” with also “low pressures to make the storm stronger.” She also explained the different types of winds that are involved in the hurricane, including “prevailing winds that determine the direction, trade winds that carry the hurricane from Africa to the Caribbean, and then westerly winds that carry them from the Caribbean out into the Atlantic.” 

To support the countries affected by Hurricane Melissa, the U.S. Department of State has stated that they assisted with nearly $37 million. They also gave “530,000 pounds of relief commodities, including food, safe drinking water, shelter supplies” and “the delivery of 12,000 tarps,12,000 shelter kits, and hygiene supplies for 12,000 families.” If you want to further support Jamaica; who was affected most by the storm, you can visit https://supportjamaica.gov.jm/.