Caught Between Storms … The cost of disaster in the Caribbean

Every June, the clock starts. For the tourism, farming, fishing, and energy jobs that millions of Caribbean families depend on, hurricane season changes everything.

Jun 9, 2026 - 22:40

Caught Between Storms … The cost of disaster in the Caribbean

For 183 days a year, Caribbean economies operate under hurricane warnings.

When disaster strikes, the losses aren’t just physical, it is a scary reminder that years of job gains can vanish overnight.

Antonia, Malaika, and Vincent have each faced a hurricane, volcanic eruption, or flood in the past few years. These livelihood shocks stalled their businesses, cut off income, and upended stability.

Their stories reflect a reality where jobs are on the front lines of climate volatility in the Caribbean.

The sectors that drive employment, that is tourism, agribusiness, energy, and fisheries, all draw their value directly from natural resources: healthy reefs, fertile soil, reliable rainfall, and productive coastal waters.

For 183 days each year, from June to November, the region’s job engines face the heightened threat of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.

A single afternoon can wipe out a decade of employment gains.

The challenge is not confined to a calendar.

Unpredictable shocks, like the 2021 La Soufrière volcanic eruption or Haiti’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake, can remove stility overnight. When critical infrastructure and key sectors are damaged, thousands are left without a clear path back to a paycheck.

Extreme events result in large economic losses and persistent debt increases, often forcing governments with limited fiscal buffers to prioritize emergency repairs over long-term development, including job protection.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has been investing in Caribbean readiness and resilience – smart development: fiscally sound, resilient, and built to last.

Through its Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit, over $235 million has been disbursed to 11 Caribbean countries, enabling faster response, protecting development gains, and building back stronger.

The World Bank Group’s new Small States Strategy will further help Caribbean countries address unique challenges faced due to high shock exposure. The impact of these efforts is found in the lives of workers who returned to their jobs when the clouds, ash and flood waters cleared.

Over the past few years, the World Bank Group has disbursed over $235 M to 11 Caribbean countries, enabling faster crisis response and protecting development gains.

The Cost of Disasters

Natural disasters don’t just flatten homes.

They flatten budgets too.

When a disaster hits, government finances take an immediate blow.

Even as the floodwaters recede, the debt doesn’t.

The debt bill keeps climbing years after the disaster.

For small Caribbean countries, the three-year post-disaster debt impact is much worse than the global average.

REBUILD. RECOVER. WITHSTAND.

Supporting Caribbean people

Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti

Dominica

Hurricane Maria inflicted US$931 million in damage to Dominica – more than twice the country’s GDP.

The storm did not just tear off rooftops; it threatened to permanently erase sectors that sustain the island.

For Antonia Anthony-Joseph, the stakes were deeply personal. Having already been laid off, she poured her life savings into beekeeping.

Days before her first commercial harvest, Hurricane Maria crushed every hive Antonia Anthony-Joseph owned. A World Bank project gave her 30 beehive boxes and 300 frames to start over.

The project delivered seeds, irrigation systems, and livestock equipment to more than 3,700 farmers across Dominica, restoring 4,500 hectares of cropland and building new shelters to protect animals from future storms.

Today, Antonia supplies honey and wax to local supermarkets.

“When you pour your time and energy… and then a hurricane takes it all away, it is absolutely heartbreaking.”

Antonia Anthony-Joseph

For Dominican fisherman Irvin Roudette, a lifetime of work was swept away in hours.

Today, Irvin is back at sea.

A World Bank project replaced what the storm took, as his boat engine, his gear and his livelihood vanished when Hurricane Maria hit.

The initiative helped him rebuild what the storm stripped away.

Hardship came in waves for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The 2021 eruption of the La Soufrière volcano forced thousands to evacuate, and a few years later, in 2024, Hurricane Beryl wiped out much of the progress made.

Yet, the response was swift.

Within three months of the hurricane, a recovery project was launched, providing temporary employment to more than 5,500 people who cleared debris and restored public spaces, often earning their first income after the storm. 

Malaika Watt had just restocked her convenience store, Lika’s Outlet, on Union Island when Hurricane Beryl hit.

Overnight, everything she had invested was gone.

“It was horrific and terrifying. I realized it wasn’t just me in this position. Mentally and financially, it put me completely off track.”
Malaika Watt

Entrepreneurs also received targeted help. Small business recovery grants allowed shopkeepers like Malaika Watt to restock and rebuild after losing everything just days after opening her store.

“There is hope,” Malaika says. “But it starts with you. You pick up, and you go on.”

Haiti: Water, Farmers and Agriculture

Further north, in Haiti, repeated shocks deepened already difficult conditions. Hurricane Matthew and the 2021 earthquake left fields buried, irrigation canals shattered, and crops withering from lack of water.

As Michel Soy of the Dory Smallholder’s Association explains:

“As water is essential for crop cultivation, these events have made it nearly impossible for farmers to earn steady incomes.”

Farming is how families survive, educate their children, and stay rooted.

“When the land suffers, people suffer.” 

With World Bank support, broken canals were rehabilitated and climate-resilient seeds were distributed to the community. This restored water flow to Michel’s fields and gave the association the materials needed to replant. 

World Bank projects are reinforcing roads, bridges and systems—from transport to drainage—to ensure the Caribbean workforce remains mobile and the economy stays online when storms arrive.

The Challenge

The Myton Gully crossing overflows during heavy rains, turning the road into a rushing stream; cutting off access for hours. Construction worker Vincent Myrie often lost wages because he could not reach his job site. For local families, the flooding was even worse. Kaya Brian recalls that her sister’s lower lying home routinely took in water: “They would lose fridges, furniture, and anything outside would be washed away.” 

The Intervention

Through the Jamaica Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project, the road was raised, the bridge elevated, and drainage culverts expanded. During Hurricane Melissa, these upgrades kept the road dry and the gully contained. Vincent reached his job site without delay, and nearby homes remained flood-free.

The Challenge

Hurricane Beryl destroyed 90 percent of the island’s fishing fleet and impacted marine infrastructure families depend on. For construction divers like Anthony Hackett, the damage was personal; his own brother lost his boat to the storm, leaving his livelihood in ruins.

The Intervention

Supported by the Barbados Beryl Emergency Response and Recovery Project, the government is rebuilding the breakwater using massive boulders to dissipate the energy of storm surge. This barrier protects fisheries infrastructure and fleet, ensuring fishermen like Anthony’s brother have a safe place to moor their boats and protect their income during future seasons.

The World Bank is helping Barbados rebuild and reinforce the marina breakwater — protecting the boats, infrastructure, and livelihoods of coastal fishing communities from future storms.

The Challenge

Hurricanes Irma and Maria left the Princess Juliana International Airport in ruins. The destruction threatened a critical lifeline for the Eastern Caribbean and the livelihoods of 1,700 workers — including 315 direct staff — whose jobs depend on the airport’s daily operations and the island’s tourism economy.

The Intervention

Through the support of the Sint Maarten Reconstruction, Recovery and Resilience Trust Fund – as a partnership between the Governments of Netherlands and Sint Maarten, and the World Bank – the Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project helped rebuild the airport with hurricane-resilient upgrades and expanded passenger facilities.

Today the airport has the capacity to serve 2.5 million passengers annually, ensuring the island’s primary job engine stays online and protected.

The Challenge

In Liliendaal and other communities in Guyana’s Greater Georgetown area, ordinary rainfall often turned streets into stagnant pools and left homes knee-deep in water. Resident Basil Singh recalls neighborhoods being cut off for days and shops forced to close, referencing the catastrophic floods that paralyzed the area and stalled the local economy.

The Intervention

Under the Guyana Flood Risk Management Project, construction of the “Bullet” pump station allows floodwater to be cleared far more quickly than previous systems. The station keeps water moving through canals during heavy rains, allowing shops to stay open and residents like Basil to get to work.

Building Caribbean Systems

Building Resilience with the Private Sector

From digital connectivity to renewable energy, the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is working with partners across the Caribbean, in close coordination with the World Bank and governments, to help countries strengthen resilience, expand essential services, and unlock investment that supports jobs and growth.

In Jamaica, IFC’s Hurricane Melissa Response Program is helping protect jobs, restore critical infrastructure, and, aligned with AgriConnect, support agribusiness value chains that sustain small family farms.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are also a key part of IFC’s work in the country.

The institution is structuring projects expected to mobilize more than US$2 billion in private investment, including a flagship subsea cable PPP designed to improve internet quality and affordability while strengthening Jamaica’s digital resilience.

Regional efforts also include support for a wind farm PPP in Barbados, Belize’s first utility-scale solar PPP, and private sector solutions for water and energy services in Haiti alongside the World Bank.

Together, these initiatives reflect a broader push to help Caribbean countries build resilience and deliver better outcomes through greater private

Beyond the Storm

For 183 of the year’s 365 days, the Caribbean sits under the shadow of the Atlantic hurricane season, with disaster risk hanging over lives, livelihoods, and development.

For Antonia, Vincent, Malaika and many others, the margin between a temporary disruption and a permanent livelihood loss is razor thin.

Targeted investments in productive asset protection, climate-resilient infrastructure, and pre-disaster financing mechanisms address that vulnerability at its root.

By safeguarding the tools and natural capital through which families generate income, strengthening the connective infrastructure on which local economies depend, and mobilizing concessional financing ahead of disaster, these interventions interrupt the recurrent cycle of loss.

The 183-day shadow over the Caribbean will not shorten. But with the right systems in place, the time between devastation and recovery can.

That is the measure of progress - and the mandate for continued investment.

After the storms, they went back to work.