Hurricane Bret (1999)
| Category 4 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Emergence | August 18, 1999 | |
| resolution | August 25, 1999 | |
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Peak wind speed |
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| Lowest air pressure | 944 mbar ( hPa ; 27.9 inHg ) | |
| dead | 4 indirect | |
| Property damage | $ 60 million (1999) | |
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Affected areas |
South Texas , Mexico | |
| Season overview: 1999 Atlantic hurricane season |
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Hurricane Bret was the first of five Category 4 hurricanes in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season . Although it hit the mainland as a strong Category 3 hurricane in the US state of Texas , Bret caused relatively little damage of around 60 million US dollars . Causes of this relatively low damage amount was Bret's small size and the fact that he was in a sparsely populated area.
Storm course
A tropical wave broke away from the West African coast on August 5th and migrated across the Atlantic, which was saturated by wind shear , which in some cases made it barely noticeable. On August 15, the wave in the western Caribbean Sea reacted to a low pressure area at high altitude, causing convection to rise . The system drifted northwest into the Bahía de Campeche and developed a surface depression on the morning of August 18, which was later classified by the National Hurricane Center as Tropical Depression Three. Initially, the tropical low had a poorly ordered convection, which was caused by vertical wind shear due to a trough at the height that was in the far west of the Gulf of Mexico . However, the trough line was in retreat and the improved conditions allowed the deep pressure area to intensify into Tropical Storm Bret on August 19.
One eye formed on August 20th, which is a very rare feature for a tropical storm with winds of 70 km / h. This enabled the formation of Bret's inner core, which in turn allowed Bret to intensify on the way through the Gulf of Mexico. Following the Mexican coast , Bret continued to intensify and became a hurricane on August 21 because of its compact size. On the night of August 21st the following morning, the strength of the hurricane increased rapidly and reached its peak at 235 km / h and a minimum air pressure in its center of 944 hPa on August 22nd.
The storm forced a front in the mid troposphere over the northwest of the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, where the country's influence weakened the hurricane. Bret reached the mainland as a hurricane with winds of 185 km / h and hit a sparsely populated area in southeast Texas between Brownsville and Corpus Christi . Overland, the storm weakened rapidly and within 24 hours of reaching the mainland was just a tropical low, which then crossed the Rio Grande to northeast Mexico, where it finally dissolved on August 25.
Preparations
Prior to the arrival of the hurricane, all 67,000 residents of San Patricio County received mandatory evacuation orders ; Corpus Christi residents were admonished to leave the area as well. Hurricane warnings were issued 21 hours before reaching the mainland.
Effects
Texan coast
Even before Bret reached the mainland, he triggered a storm surge that was one to one and a half meters above normal and caused significant coastal erosion with the associated elongated waves . As Bret slowly wandered inland, he developed extensive torrential rain, which amounted to 335mm in the center of Kenedy County and some other weather stations reported rainfall in excess of 250mm. A damaged utility pole in Kenedy County caused blackouts for thousands of residents. In Corpus Christi, wind and rain covered the city with rubble and sticks that cost the city $ 200,000 to clean up. In Aransas County , a Bret-induced tornado destroyed a stable, a trailer, uprooted trees, and two more tornadoes broke out in the southeast of the state. The damage totaled $ 60 million, with most of it related to the harvest.
In the days after the storm, mosquitoes and other insects laid eggs in the areas with retained water, creating swarms of insects, and the authorities sprayed insecticides to prevent disease outbreaks .
Rio Grande valley
Further inland, Bret dumped heavy rainfall, in some areas over 300mm, causing a flood in the Rio Grande valley . Over 350mm of rainfall was reported from the Mexican state of Nuevo León , and more than 150mm fell in southern Texas. Slippery roads due to the heavy rainfall caused a truck to collide with a tractor, killing four people.
Minor damage
Although Bret was a powerful hurricane when it reached the mainland, it only caused $ 60 million in damage. This number is low for two reasons: on the one hand, Bret was a small cyclone whose area of winds at hurricane strength reached a diameter of only 60-100 km; on the other hand, the hurricane hit Kenedy County, a very sparsely populated area, which is the least Has population density along the entire coast of North America on the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. The next more populated areas were about 110 km further. No major hurricane has caused so little damage in the United States since Hurricane Easy in 1950. In consideration of the lack of enormous damage, the name was not removed from the list of tropical cyclone names and was reassigned in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season .
Bret was the first major hurricane since Hurricane Fran in 1996 to hit the US mainland and the last before Hurricane Charley in 2004. Bret also ended a long period in which there had been no hurricane in Texas. The last hurricane to hit Texas was Hurricane Jerry during the 1989 hurricane season, and the last major hurricane to hit Texas was Hurricane Alicia during the 1983 hurricane season .
Web links
- NHC Tropical Cyclone Report for Hurricane Bret
- NHC advisory archives for Hurricane Bret
- Gart Padgett Tropical Summary
- County Population Statistics
swell
- ↑ Corpus Christi Caller-Times : "City Officials: It's too late to leave now" ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 22, 1999
- ^ A b c d e f Miles B. Lawrence and Todd B. Kimberlain: Tropical Cyclone Report for Hurricane Bret . National Hurricane Center . 1999. Revised in 2001.
- ↑ Corpus Christi Caller-Times : "Bret drenches South Texas" ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 23, 1999
- ↑ Corpus Christi Caller-Times : "City set for long cleanup" ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 25, 1999
- ↑ Corpus Christi Caller-Times : "Bret brings mosquitoes, other pests" ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 25, 1999
- ^ Australian Severe Weather. Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary August 1999 , accessed September 17, 2007
