Remembering Hurricane Mitch

[HurricaneBill]

10 years ago......





Hurricane Mitch on Wikipedia

Hurricane Mitch TCR

[HurricaneBill]

Direct deaths from Hurricane Mitch:

Panama: 3
Costa Rica: 7
Jamaica: 3
Nicaragua: 3,800
Honduras: 7,000
Guatemala: 268
El Salvador: 240
Belize: 11
Mexico: 9
U.S.A.: 2
Fantome: 31

Total: 11,374 deaths

Damage (1998 USD)

Costa Rica: $92 million
Nicaragua: $1 billion
Honduras: $3.8 billion
Guatemala: $748 million
El Salvador: $400 million
U.S.A.: $40 million

Total: $6.08 billion in damage

[Andrew92]

Hands down the worst storm of the 90s. Almost certain that they are still recovering and maybe even grasping the situation down there.

I remember hearing something on the news once a few days after Mitch's damage had been done that it could take roughly 50 years to clean up.

-Andrew92

[Ptarmigan]

Hurricane Mitch was one of the most intense hurricane on record, but made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Central America. It dumped up to 100 inches of rain with tragic consequences. At least 12,000 people die in the floods. It is one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricane besides the Great 1780 Hurricane and Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. I read that part of Mitch came from a MCC that formed in South America that merged with a tropical wave.

[CrazyC83]

Definitely the worst storm of the 1990s for sure, and the deadliest of the 20th century. The fact that it stalled just offshore made it absolutely horrifying.

[bvigal]

Mitch: The Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane Since 1780


RIP
The Ship And The Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome

[HurricaneBill]

Some YouTube links:

Wild Weather: Hurricane Mitch

TWC Tropical Update on Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch: A New Awareness

Footage during Hurricane Mitch in San Pedro

[bvigal]

HurricaneBill,
Thanks for the videos! The 1st one is misleading, though, Mitch didn't make landfall as a cat5, but listening to that British guy, one might think that. Mitch was a cat 1 when it crossed the Honduran coast.

That book by Jim Carrier is a very good one. It's not only about Fantome, but the experiences of people on the Bay Islands, Hurricane Hunters, and NHC. People in Guanaja survived Mitch's winds by climbing in underground cisterns. I'm reading it again for about the 10th time.

[HurricaneBill]

Site of the deadliest event during Mitch:



The Casita Volcano in Nicaragua.

Heavy rains from Mitch produced a massive lahar on the dormant volcano. The lahar swept through the towns of El Provenir and Rolando Rodriguez, wiping out both towns. More than 2,000 people were killed. The few survivors in both towns had to wait days for the mud to dry before being able to get help.

[Derek Ortt]

Mitch: The Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane Since 1780


RIP
The Ship And The Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome

should not consider the 1781 storm to be the all time deadliest.

A large percentage of those may have qualified as war casualties since they were British and French sailors and soldiers. had there have been no war, the death toll is significantly less

[Ptarmigan]

should not consider the 1781 storm to be the all time deadliest.

A large percentage of those may have qualified as war casualties since they were British and French sailors and soldiers. had there have been no war, the death toll is significantly less

Look, I respect you Derek, but I have to diagree with that. Military death regardless of war or not are counted as dead in disasters. Yes, they were at war, but they are still casualties of the hurricane. They count as dead people in the hurricane and NHC considers the 1780 Hurricane the deadliest hurricane regardless if they are military or not.

[Ptarmigan]

The military considers them as hurricane deaths, not war death. The soldiers that died in the hurricane were not in a war zone.

[bvigal]

This book is one that most of the members here would NOT BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. (Consider yourself warned, maybe start it on a weekend, LOL) Up front, I admit a personal connection to this story. But even without that, I found it more compelling than The Perfect Storm or Isaac's Storm, because so many lives were affected, and the storm had so many unusual, historic weather features. And, it's very well written. It is like watching a documentary, switching in chronological order between real people on the ship, friends/family at home, passengers coming/going, the company in Miami, the Hurricane Center, the crew on recon flights, real people on the Bay Islands cowering in basements, ditches and cisterns, and real people on mainland Honduras floating away in floodwaters. It's gripping! You can likely find it at the library.

Mitch: The Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane Since 1780


RIP
The Ship And The Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome

[bvigal]

This book is one that most of the members here would NOT BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. (Consider yourself warned, maybe start it on a weekend, LOL) Up front, I admit a personal connection to this story. But even without that, I found it more compelling than The Perfect Storm or Isaac's Storm, because so many lives were affected, and the storm had so many unusual, historic weather features. And, it's very well written. It is like watching a documentary, switching in chronological order between real people on the ship, friends/family at home, passengers coming/going, the company in Miami, the Hurricane Center, the crew on recon flights, real people on the Bay Islands cowering in basements, ditches and cisterns, and real people on mainland Honduras floating away in floodwaters. It's gripping! You can likely find it at the library.

Mitch: The Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane Since 1780


RIP
The Ship And The Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome

[Tireman4]

My kinfolks in Honduras talk about Mitch. Boy do they talk about him.

[Shuriken]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxJEjB4YLhY

[Category 5]

I was 8 years old at the time, I remember it like it was yesterday. Hands down, the worst Atlantic Hurricane of this generation, far worse than Katrina. If you count the missing the death toll is closer to 20,000.