Hurricane Melissa: Aussie student’s terrifying Jamaica survival story
A Queenslander caught in the path of Hurricane Melissa has spoken of his ordeal as the storm continues its terrifying path of destruction. SEE PHOTOS, VIDEO.
An Australian student living in Jamaica has told how he had to tie himself to his bed fearing the iron roof on his house would be torn way as Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica with top sustained winds of around 300km/h.
Samuel Zinzan Ziff, who is originally from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and is studying filmmaking and cinematography in Kingston, was still in a state of shock following the category five storm on Tuesday local time.
“Goodness gracious, that was crazy,” he said in a post on TikTok, appearing taken aback by the ordeal.
“I’m so grateful, I’m very lucky and just blessed to be here because that was a very terrifying 24 to 48 hours, so I’m glad I got through it.”
In an interview with SBS News, he spoke about the extreme lengths he went to stay safe during the storm.
“Last night I pretty much had to tie myself to my bed just in case the roof fell off. It was really scary.”
Mr Ziff said the hurricane’s intensity was shocking.
“It is quite stressful, honestly. But then again, I’m just grateful to be where I’m at because, honestly, I could have, from my situation, I could have been without power, I could have been, you know, the roof ripped off the top of me,” he said.
Despite the ordeal, the young adventurer said he had no plans to return home.
“I love Jamaica and a hurricane ain’t getting rid of me,” he said.
CARIBBEAN REELS FROM ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ DESTRUCTION
Hurricane Melissa was moving towards Bermuda after ripping a path of destruction through the Caribbean that left at least 20 people dead in Haiti, and parts of Jamaica and Cuba in ruins.
The Bahamas government discontinued a hurricane warning for its central and southeastern regions, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory early Thursday.
“Follow advice of local officials as you may need to remain sheltered after the storm due to downed power lines and flooding,” the NHC warned.
Flooding is expected to subside in the Bahamas, although it could persist in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the US weather bureau added.
The storm was still some kilometres southwest of Bermuda, according to the NHC.
“Hurricane Melissa is expected to pass Bermuda as a Category 1 Hurricane. While not a direct hit, the system will pass close enough to warrant precautionary safety measures,” the Bermuda government posted on social media.
Cubans waded through flooded, debris-strewn streets as Hurricane Melissa blasted across the Caribbean, leaving at least 30 dead or missing in Haiti and devastating parts of Jamaica.
The greatest loss of life has been in Haiti which, despite not being hit directly by the hurricane, has suffered extreme flooding.
At least 20 people in southern Haiti, including 10 children, were killed in floods caused as the hurricane shaved past earlier in the week, according to civil defense agency head Emmanuel Pierre.
Ten more were missing.
“People have been killed, houses have been swept away by the water,” resident Steeve Louissaint told AFP in the coastal town of Petit-Goave, where the Digue River burst its banks.
In Haiti, dozens of homes collapsed under the walls of water and countless people remain buried under the rubble.
“I am overwhelmed by the situation,” mayor of the southern Haitian coastal town of Petit-Goâve, Jean Bertrand Subrème said, pleading for help both from his own government and those of other nations.
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla, were “profoundly saddened” by the “catastrophic damage” caused by Hurricane Melissa.
In a social media message, the monarch paid tribute to emergency services and frontline workers.
“This most dreadful of record-breaking storms reminds us of the increasingly urgent need to restore the balance and harmony of Nature for the sake of all those whose lives and livelihoods may have been shattered by this heartbreaking disaster,” the King said.
Pope Leo offered prayers from the Vatican, while the United States said it was in contact with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
“We have rescue and response teams heading to affected areas along with critical lifesaving supplies,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X, without mentioning ideological foe Cuba.
The UK government announced £2.5 million (about $5 million) in emergency funding for the region.
It came as shocking before-and-after images showed the devastation caused in Jamaica by the strongest hurricane on record to hit the island.
Nearly all of Jamaica is without power and the entire island has been declared a “disaster area”.
In Cuba’s east, residents struggled through flooded and collapsed homes and inundated streets, with windows smashed, power cables downed and roofs and tree branches torn off amid intense winds.
Some carried loved ones unable to walk for themselves and arms full of quickly gathered belongings.
“It has been a very difficult early morning,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media, citing “extensive damage” on the communist island battling its worst economic crisis in decades.
Hurricane Melissa hit Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 120km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC), which urged residents to “remain sheltered” even as the storm left the island and headed north.
The US State Department is deploying a regional Disaster Assistance Response Team and has also activated US-based Urban Search and Rescue teams.
In Seaford Town, farmer and businessman Christopher Hacker saw his restaurant and nearby banana plantations flattened.
“Everything is gone,” he told AFP. “It will take a lot to recover from this.”
The full extent of Melissa’s damage is not yet clear. A comprehensive assessment could take days with communications networks disrupted across the region.
TRUMP VOWS TO HELP AID EFFORTS
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One shortly after he finished dining with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in South Korea, US President Donald Trump said he would also help Jamaica with their clean up effort.
“On a humanitarian basis, we have to, so we’re watching it closely,” Mr Trump said.
“We’re prepared to move. It’s doing tremendous damages as we speak.”
VIDEO: 🌀 🇯🇲 🇨🇺 Devastating Hurricane Melissa slams into Jamaica and Cuba
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 29, 2025
Melissa hit Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 295 km/h, the worst hurricane to hit the island since meteorological records began. The scale of the damage was not immediately… pic.twitter.com/5Hct2MHaDp
“These teams are working with affected countries and local communities to determine what assistance is needed and with interagency, international, and US military partners to co-ordinate emergency response efforts,” a statement from the department on X reads.
MASS EVACUATIONS IN CUBA
Residents in Cuba told AFP they had been stockpiling food, candles, and batteries since Monday.
“We bought bread, spaghetti, and ground beef. This cyclone is serious, but we’ll get through it,” Graciela Lamaison told AFP in Santiago de Cuba.
Authorities in Haiti, east of Cuba, ordered the closure of schools, businesses and government offices on Wednesday.
Cuban authorities reported that about 735,000 people have been evacuated so far. “It will be a very difficult night for all of Cuba, but we will recover,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on social media platform X.
Carrying loved ones and a handful of quickly snatched belongings, Cuban families trekked along narrow paths slick with mud and fringed by dense greenery to head to relative safety.
Others, visibly distraught, squeezed onto crowded buses — gripping handrails and bags — or loaded onto lorries waiting to be spirited away.
“A house collapsed in Mariana de la Torre, oh God, please,” a resident of Santiago, the island’s second-largest city, wrote on Facebook.
“We are all being flooded,” warned another resident of the city. In El Cobre, rescue workers were attempting to reach 17 people trapped by rising floodwaters and a landslide, according to state media.
“We are safe and trying to stay calm,” rheumatologist Lionnis Francos, one of those stranded, told the official news site Cubadebate.
Two children, five elderly people, asthmatics, and people with high blood pressure are among those trapped.
“The rescuers arrived quickly. They called us, but couldn’t cross because the road is blocked,” the doctor added.
‘DISASTER AREA’
Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on Wednesday (AEDT) with ferocious winds and torrential rains, the worst storm ever to hit the island nation and one of the most powerful hurricanes on record.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the island a “disaster area” and authorities warned residents to remain sheltered over continued flooding and landslide risk, as dangerous weather persisted even as the hurricane’s worst moved on.
Jamaican officials said some 25,000 tourists were in the country famed for its normally crystalline waters.
Jamaica’s climate change minister told CNN that Hurricane Melissa’s effect was “catastrophic,” citing flooded homes and “severely damaged public infrastructure” and hospitals.
And as if that weren’t enough: health authorities were urging vigilance against crocodiles displaced by the torrential rains.
“Rising water levels in rivers, gullies, and swamps could cause crocodiles to move into residential areas,” the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) posted in a public service announcement on Instagram.
The scale of Melissa’s damage in Jamaica wasn’t yet clear, as a comprehensive assessment could take days and much of the island was still without power, with communications networks badly disrupted.
The UN is planning an air lift of some 2000 relief kits to Jamaica from a relief supply station in Barbados once air travel is possible.
Assistance is also planned to other impacted countries including Cuba and Haiti, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists.
Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has officially made landfall on Jamaica as the strongest landfalling hurricane in Atlantic history, with sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts up to 225 mph.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) October 28, 2025
A tragic moment for Jamaica. pic.twitter.com/zA9OQ6IE7F
Olympian sprinter Usain Bolt, one of Jamaica’s most famous figures, meanwhile was posting regularly on social media with messages for his home country: “Pray for Jamaica.”
At its peak, the storm packed ferocious sustained winds of 300km/h. Immediate details regarding casualty figures were not available.
Government minister Desmond McKenzie said several hospitals had been damaged, including in the hard-hit southwestern district of Saint Elizabeth, a coastal area he said was “underwater.”
The storm made landfall at New Hope on Jamaica’s southwestern coast, hitting land with maximum wind speeds even more potent than most of recent history’s most brutal storms, including 2005’s Katrina, which ravaged the US city of New Orleans.
“For Jamaica it will be the storm of the century so far,” Anne-Claire Fontan, at the World Meteorological Organisation, warned.
As the situation worsened on the tropical island a veteran weather presenter was stunned live on air when given an update on Hurricane Melissa’s pressure.
NBC Miami Chief Meteorologist John Morales put his hand to his head and said: “Oh my Jesus Christ.”
“I’m going to hold it together here,” the visibly shaken presenter said.
In the US, a series of weather systems have contributed to heavy rain and dangerous surf, especially in Florida, but the mainland US is expected to be spared from any direct impacts from Hurricane Melissa.
Flooding was reported in the lobby of a Boca Raton resort after heavy rains, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.
Scientists say human-driven climate change has exacerbated massive storms, increasing their frequency.
The last major hurricane to impact Jamaica was Beryl in July 2024 – an abnormally strong storm for the time of year.
“Human-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse,” said climate scientist Daniel Gilford.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Hurricane Melissa: Aussie student’s terrifying Jamaica survival story
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