Overview
- TMZ reported the storm made landfall in Jamaica, was downgraded to Category 4 with winds near 185 mph, and cited NBC News in reporting seven deaths.
- The National Hurricane Center warned of catastrophic damage with tornado-like winds and weeks-long power outages, calling it the strongest threat to Jamaica in more than 170 years.
- Meteorologist Matthew Cappucci joined a NOAA Hurricane Hunters mission into the Category 5 system to collect data, describing about ten minutes of severe turbulence at roughly 280 mph before calm inside the eye.
- CNN’s OutFront aired footage of Cappucci vomiting during the roughest part of the flight, and he later posted the clip on X with a self-deprecating joke about his television career.
- Cappucci cautioned that Jamaica faces a significant humanitarian risk, citing eyewall gusts of 150–170 mph, torrential rain, coastal flooding, landslides, and potential water pushes inland of roughly 13 feet in places.