Hurricane Melissa is worse than Hurricane Katrina

Question

As Hurricane Melissa rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane, with 185 mph winds, early Tuesday, October 28, 2025, it's been compared to peak Hurricane Katrina back in ‘05. According to the NYT, around 8 AM PST on October 28, 2025, they reported that the storm’s attributes are comparable to some of the most destructive hurricanes formed in recent history. It's been stated that Hurricane Mellisa is the second Atlantic storm to ever make landfall with estimated winds of 185 mph, the other being the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. This makes the hurricane one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record, and has become to most powerful to hit Jamaica. Its destructive path, making landfall, was one of the strongest Category 5 storms on record, based on the New York Times.

The intense storm was one of the strongest ever in the region as it tore off roofs and also ripped down light poles found in its way. Even as Melissa was weakening after passing over Jamaica, it was still producing up to 130 m.p.h winds and remained a dangerous storm as it made landfall in Cuba.

Answer 1

This claim feels too broad where it can't really be determined if this is true or false. There are some aspects where hurricane Melissa was worse than hurricane Katrina but on the other side, there were other aspects that made hurricane Katrina worse than hurricane Melissa.

Using the article that is linked by the one who created the claim, according to the New York Times, "Melissa’s Winds Are Stronger Than Hurricane Katrina’s Were in 2005". Looking into this, according to Britannica, "Katrina had become one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, with winds topping 170 miles (273.6 km) per hour." (Britannica). On the contrary, according to BBC, "Hurricane Melissa, now a Category 4 storm, first hit the island's southern coast with maximum sustained winds of 295km/h (185mph) - the strongest on Earth so far this year. When your compare the numbers that are in these quotes, it does follow the claim that hurricane Melissa was stronger than hurricane Katrina. With the statistic of wind, yes, by the measurement of wind, Melissa was stronger in Katrina that way.

But, the reason why this quote is too broad, there are other aspects where hurricane Melissa wasn't worse than hurricane Katrina. Looking at the amount of damage that both hurricanes caused, it shows the reverse of what the wind showed us. According to the Guardian, "Experts at US forecaster AccuWeather estimated damages across the Caribbean of $48bn to $52bn." (The Guardian). But with hurricane Katrina, according to Britannica, "Ultimately, the storm caused more than $125 billion in damage (equal to more than $200 billion in 2024 dollars)" (Britannica). With these two quotes, hurricane Katrina should be considered "worse" than hurricane Melissa.

With all the facts presented, "worse" is such a broad word and can have many different meanings, especially when it comes to this claim. Does "worse" mean "worse wind speeds"? "Worse damage done"? "Which hurricane had a worse category"? Because this claim is so broad, it's both true and false. I believe for this claim to serve its purpose and for a clear answer to be found, the claim needs to be cleared up about what is be fact checked.

Sources

BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3d71q32w5o

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/jamaica-pm-says-hurricane-melissa-caused-damage-equivalent-to-nearly-one-third-of-gdp

Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/event/Hurricane-Katrina/Aftermath