After weakening to a Category 1 hurricane after its passage across the rugged terrain of eastern Cuba, by Wednesday afternoon Melissa was recovering over the waters around the speckled islands of the southeastern Bahamas.

Heavy floodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa came ashore as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

On Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Gabrielle formed in the Atlantic. National Hurricane Center forecasters said at 5 a.m. Monday that its maximum wind speed was 90 mph but they expected it to strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane by the evening.

The intensity of a hurricane is measured by its maximum sustained wind speed, and when that speed increases by at least 35 miles per hour in a 24-hour period — or roughly two categories on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale — meteorologists call that “rapid intensification.”

TAMPA, Fla. — One year ago, on Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane caused significant damage across the Tampa Bay area, leaving homes and businesses destroyed. Surge levels in some ...

Article first published: Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, 11 a.m. ET Article last updated: Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, 2 a.m. ET System type: Hurricane, Category 4 System name ...

Note: These stories are a series of profiles accompanying Helene: What We Lost, What We Found, a powerful investigative documentary examining the devastation and resilience that followed Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Watch the documentary ...