By 28 October, Melissa further strengthened and turned north-northeastward, approaching Jamaica. By 1200 UTC, the entire island was experiencing tropical-storm-force winds, with hurricane-force conditions affecting parts of the southern and southwestern regions before and during landfall, which occurred near New Hope, Westmoreland around 1700 UTC.

The preliminary runs of the CCRIF tropical cyclone loss model for wind and storm surge produced government losses for Jamaica. The government losses for Jamaica are above the Attachment Point of the Tropical Cyclone policy and therefore a payout of US$ 70,802,832 is due.