BMS has warned that the total economic impact of Hurricane Melissa could reach 30–250% of Jamaica’s GDP, potentially triggering a deep recession, widespread unemployment, a sharp decline in tourism, and severe strain on local banks and insurers, placing heavy pressure on public borrowing to fund recovery efforts.
After making landfall near Crawford, Jamaica, BMS said Hurricane Melissa is expected to impact the entire island. The storm ranks among the strongest on record to strike Jamaica and is the first Category 5 system to make landfall since Dorian on September 1, 2019.
This places Melissa among an elite group of Category 5 Atlantic landfalls in terms of both pressure and wind speed; only two other hurricanes in Atlantic basin history have recorded lower central pressures.
While the impacts of the event are expected to be devastating, BMS suggested that the overall insurance loss will be limited due to a lower take-up rate across the Island.
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