Hurricane Melissa leaves path of devastation

Days of torrential rains, storm surges and catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Melissa left behind widespread destruction and impacted the lives of an estimated more than 900,000 children across the Caribbean, including Jamaica, where Melissa made landfall as a category 5 hurricane. 

UNICEF is on the ground supporting partners to provide children with access to safe water, nutrition and health supplies, and mental health support. 

How have children been impacted by Hurricane Melissa? 

Hurricane Melissa caused massive rainfall and flooding, resulting in children and their families losing their homes and livelihoods, especially in vulnerable coastal areas in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Heavy rains, flash floods and landslides have damaged or destroyed infrastructure and crops and severely disrupted essential education, health, nutrition, protection and sanitation services. More than 470,000 children are experiencing significant disruptions to their schooling due to damaged or temporarily closed schools across Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica.

How is UNICEF helping children impacted by Hurricane Melissa?

UNICEF is supporting national authorities and partners in the affected countries to address the needs of children and their families.

Support includes:

• Delivering hygiene kits and ensuring appropriate sanitation and hygiene conditions for children in the most-affected communities, including by supplying chlorine tablets.
• Providing essential health and nutrition supplies, including micronutrient powders and high-energy biscuit for children and mothers, as well as medical kits, generators, bed nets, and cots.
• Deploying mobile teams to the hardest-hit areas to provide psychosocial support, case management, and family tracing for unaccompanied or separated children.
• Distributing school-in-a-box and early childhood development kits to the most-affected schools, along with additional teaching and learning materials as needed.
• Providing cash assistance for households to mitigate the impact of the hurricane.

^{Page updated 28 November 2025}