Hurricane Melissa could cost Jamaica $15bn - UN

Damage and losses from Hurricane Melissa could cost Jamaica up to $15 billion, the United Nations said on Wednesday, 50 days after the tropical storm made landfall on the Caribbean island.

Fifty days after Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica, authorities are assessing the damage it left behind. 

The human impact has been severe with 45 deaths reported and more than 600,000 people affected. Hundreds of people are still living in shelters, unable to return home. 

"The physical devastation has been extensive nationwide, with at least 120,000 buildings, primarily in southwestern Jamaica, losing their roofs, leaving entire communities exposed," Dennis Zulu, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Bermuda, The Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands told reporters on Wednesday.

"The hurricane triggered prolonged and cascading disruptions to essential services, and most of the parishes were without electricity for weeks on end.”

Trail of destruction

Melissa was the third most powerful Atlantic storm on record and left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, including in Haiti and Cuba.

The UN says damage and losses from Melissa at could reach $15 billion, nearly a quarter of Jamaica's gross domestic product.

"Hurricane Melissa has once again shown how climate related tropes can erase years of development progress in a matter of hours, and as recovery advances, the United Nations will continue to advocate for stronger resilience, improved access to appropriate financing and recovery solutions that leave no one behind,” Zulu said.

The United Nations and Jamaican authorities have mounted a large-scale humanitarian response delivering food assistance, sanitation, temporary shelter, and medical care, with support from UN member states and the Central Emergency Response Fund.