Six things to know about Hurricane Melissa's impact on Cuba

Residents in Santiago clear debris from their homes. Photo: UN Cuba/ Claudio Peláez.

By Véronique Durroux

Hurricane Melissa struck Cuba as a Category 3 storm on 29 October, tearing across the island in six hours with powerful winds and torrential rain. It battered five eastern provinces, forced more than 735,000 people to evacuate and affected millions of others. Floodwaters swept through towns, winds damaged infrastructure, and power outages rippled across entire districts, disrupting essential services across eastern Cuba when communities most needed them.

1. Eastern Cuba was still recovering from past disasters

Eastern Cuba was still rebuilding after Hurricane Oscar and the earthquakes that struck Granma Province in late 2024. Communities were busy repairing homes, restoring health and education services, reviving food production and clearing debris when Melissa brought a new wave of destruction. Months of drought had depleted water reserves across Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. When Melissa arrived, the abrupt shift from extreme dryness to intense flooding triggered landslides, saturated soil, overflowed reservoirs and caused major agricultural losses.

Humanitarian staff and volunteers prepare and position relief supplies and temporary storage materials to support communities affected by Hurricane Melissa. Photo: World Food Programme.

2. Acting before the hurricane saved lives

Cuba again demonstrated the value of early warnings and preventive evacuations, as authorities issued timely alerts and evacuated and protected more than 735,000 people.

The UN and national authorities responded before Melissa’s landfall to prepare people for its worst impact. The proactive approach or anticipatory action uses forecasts to trigger pre-agreed actions and financing before a hazard strikes. For Cuba, the OCHA-managed UN Global Emergency Fund (CERF) released US$4 million, enabling teams to quickly pre-position and distribute essential items for more than 180,000 people, such as tarpaulins, food, water-treatment tablets, hygiene kits, generators, medical supplies and agricultural inputs.

"Having materials ready before the storm meant families could get supplies as soon as possible instead of waiting,” said Fancisco Pichón, UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba.

Emergency assistance supplies being brought in for distribution. Photo: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

3. Pre-positioned supplies sped up the response

Pre-positioning humanitarian supplies in Cuba is essential, given the country’s highly complex import environment. External unilateral sanctions — including exclusion from traditional financial institutions and markets — and other operational constraints limit disaster-response funding and the timely procurement, transport and distribution of emergency items.

Thanks to existing in-country stocks, such as tents, tarpaulins, mattresses and hygiene kits, the UN was able to support national authorities immediately after Melissa, even as additional relief items and medicines were still in transit. These supplies were part of broader preparedness efforts that enabled anticipatory action and made the initial hours of the response faster and more effective.

Local Civil Defense representatives work with community members and humanitarian teams in Santiago de Cuba to coordinate assessments and relief supplies. Photo: UN Cuba/Claudio Peláez

4. Community consultations shaped the response and helped target assistance

Cuba’s response model relies on direct consultation with affected communities to identify needs quickly and use resources efficiently. Through local “processing centres,” residents report damages directly, and authorities respond immediately, transparently and inclusively. Specialized teams, such as architects, engineers and social workers, verify each case and prioritize support for people in the most vulnerable conditions. Cuba’s Civil Defense System, recognized across the region, works with municipal and community actors to apply this approach and ensure limited resources are used where they are needed most.

Extensive flooding in Santiago de Cuba has submerged farmland and homes, leaving stagnant water that heightens the risk of mosquito-borne diseases waterborne diseases in already hard-hit communities. Photo: UN Cuba/Claudio Peláez.

5. Public health risks are rising

Flooding, stagnant water and damaged water systems are creating conditions for disease outbreaks. By mid-November, health authorities reported that 30 per cent of the population had recently suffered from viral infections spread by mosquitoes and other insects, such as dengue. The situation was most severe in areas hit by the heaviest rains.

Access to healthcare is still limited in several affected municipalities, and medical supply shortages are increasing risks, particularly for isolated communities.

More than 29,000 people — almost the entire population of Guamá, a municipality in the Santiago de Cuba Province in Cuba — was evacuated during Hurricane Melissa. Photo: UNICEF/UNI898873/Claudio Pelaez.

6. Coordinated action is guiding the response and shaping the way forward

OCHA is helping national authorities and the UN Resident Coordinator steer and organize the emergency response, consolidating information from ministries and UN agencies to maintain a clear picture of needs and ensure all partners are working in sync. This coordinated effort provides the foundation for the UN Plan of Action for Hurricane Melissa, which guides multi-agency support across shelter and housing, food security, health, logistics, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The plan aims to restore essential services, reach isolated communities and reduce future disaster risk — a critical framework at a time when communities are coping with overlapping shocks and significant recovery needs. But the plan is only 19 per cent funded, and greater international solidarity is essential to help Cuba recover and rebuild safely.

You can help people affected by Hurricane Melissa in Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti receive urgently needed food, water, healthcare and more. Donate here.