Article last updated: Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 11 p.m. ET

Melissa could briefly bring a swell and rough seas to the U.S. East Coast after it passes the Bahamas later in the week, but because of the angle and speed at which it's moving off into the Atlantic, Roth said any coastal impacts should be short-lived.

The news “underscores the profound ecological toll that Hurricane Melissa will have on Jamaica’s biodiversity,” said one expert on the island.

Hurricane Melissa is edging toward Jamaica and is set to make landfall as a historic Category 5 storm. NBC News' Tom Llamas speaks with an American couple stranded there.

"It is more than kind of distressing because you don't know when and you don't know how," said Ewan Simpson, who lives in Jamaica.

Sarasota County is allocating nearly $14.5 million for the initial phase of dredging Phillippi Creek to address flooding. The project follows severe flooding from Hurricane Debby in 2024, which highlighted significant sediment buildup in the waterway.

Melissa is expected to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday morning. Melissa is moving very slowly, so it will bring a deluge of rain to Jamaica, with totals forecast to reach 15 to 30 inches and even up to 40 inches in localized areas.