From forecast to frontline: how acting early helped people prepare for Hurricane Melissa
From forecast to frontline: how acting early helped people prepare for Hurricane Melissa Posted on 19 November 2025 In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa's landfall, local residents in St Elizabeth Parish in Jamaica join the World Food Programme to assemble a mobile storage unit on the grounds of a local church, one of the last hard-surface sites before Black River—crucial for parking trucks and unloading relief supplies. The structure will serve as a staging point for food and other essential supplies bound for communities further west, including Black River, which remains among the hardest-hit areas. Many of those helping with the construction were also affected by Hurricane Beryl in 2024 and are now facing renewed hardship after Hurricane Melissa. Photo: OCHA/Marc Belanger When Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5, bringing destructive winds, storm surges, and catastrophic rainfall across the Caribbean—particularly affecting Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti—OCHA and its partner...