Hurricane Melissa (2025): Rapid Report
Lincole Jiang, Majd Abid, Lawrence Chillrud, G. Brooke Anderson, Robbie M. Parks
2026-04-16
Summary
Data status: Best-track / reanalyzed (main)
Hurricane Melissa (2025) was active from 2025-10-21 06:00:00 to 2025-11-01 06:00:00 UTC. Based on IBTrACS data obtained 04/16/2026, 6,764,435 people experienced tropical cyclone-force (>= 17.49 m/s) winds and 2,695,529 people experienced hurricane-force (>= 32.90 m/s) winds across Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica. 76,409.07 people experienced Category 5 (>= 70.5 m/s) winds.
| Country | Population exposed (tropical cyclone-force) | Population exposed (hurricane-force) | Population exposed (category 5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuba | 3,936,507 | 1,529,899 | 0 |
| Jamaica | 2,814,476 | 1,165,631 | 76,409 |
| Bahamas | 13,452 | 0 | 0 |
When accounting for total population, the table below shows the percentage of each country’s population exposed.
| Country | % Population exposed (tropical cyclone-force) | % Population exposed (hurricane-force) | % Population exposed (category 5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuba | 34.9 | 13.6 | 0.0 |
| Jamaica | 100.0 | 41.4 | 2.7 |
| Bahamas | 3.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The spatial extent of the impacts is illustrated in Figure 1, which maps exposure by wind intensity threshold at the second administrative unit (ADM2) level along with the storm track of Melissa.
Figure 1: Spatial distribution of exposure
Characterizing exposed areas
Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative deprivation (measured by population-weighted GRDI, aggregated to ADM2 level) and population for each exposed area, categorized by exposure status.
Figure 2: Socioeconomic and population distribution of exposed areas
Furthermore, we list the top areas affected (categorized by exposure status) with the most population:
- Note: GRDI relative deprivation values were classified into quartiles: 0–0.25 (low), 0.25–0.50 (moderately low), 0.50–0.75 (moderately high), 0.75–1.0 (high).