Hurricane Gustav (2008)

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Hurricane Gustav
Category 4 hurricane ( SSHWS )
Gustav at his highest intensity over western Cuba
Gustav at his highest intensity over western Cuba
Emergence August 25, 2008
resolution September 4, 2008
Peak wind
speed
155  mph (250  km / h ) (sustained for 1 minute)
Lowest air pressure 941  mbar ( hPa ; 27.8  inHg )
dead 112 direct, 41 indirect
Property damage $ 6.61 billion (2008)
Affected
areas 		Dominican Republic , Haiti , Jamaica , Cayman Islands , Cuba , Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama , Florida
Season overview:
2008 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Gustav was a hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season that affected the Dominican Republic , Haiti , Jamaica , Cuba, and the US states of Florida , Alabama , Mississippi , Louisiana, and Texas . The storm reached its greatest intensity with wind speeds of 240 km / h and a central air pressure of 941 hPa in the western Caribbean Sea before it passed over western Cuba.

The effects of the storm killed a total of 95 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before Gustav moved northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi Delta . The hurricane had weakened over Cuba and moved faster than expected across the Gulf of Mexico, so that the renewed intensification was weaker than feared based on the computer models. The storm center crossed the coastline on September 1 near Cocodrie , southwest of New Orleans, as a strong Category 2 hurricane. Over land, the hurricane quickly weakened to a tropical storm.

Storm course

Railway of Gustav

A tropical wave that had migrated across the Atlantic from Africa produced violent gusts of wind and rainfall over the Leeward Islands . She organized herself continuously better, briefly formed an eye and built up convection. After a hurricane hunter had detected a closed circulation on August 26, the National Hurricane Center, as the responsible Regional Specialized Meteorological Center, determined the existence of a tropical low pressure area about 415 km southeast of Port-au-Prince , Haiti , a short time later Tropical Storm Gustav was upgraded. Shortly before reaching the southwestern peninsula, a reconnaissance flight found that Gustav had already developed into a hurricane with wind speeds of over 150 km / h. This was the strength of the hurricane across the Tiburon peninsula . In the Golfe de la Gonâve Gustav, who had weakened due to the high mountains of Haiti, turned to the west.

During this phase, the railway ran further south than expected, which is why the influence of land initially prevented further intensification. On the night of August 28, the storm center reformed a little further south or the storm unexpectedly shifted to the south. It moved as a tropical storm over Jamaica, with its center wandering just inland along the south coast of the islands. After Gustav got over very warm water west of Jamaica, Gustav intensified himself again into a hurricane and then went through a rapid intensification to a severe hurricane of category four on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale . In this strength, the storm center moved first over the Isla de la Juventud and then over the main island of Cuba in the western province of Pinar del Río .

Over the west of Cuba, Gustav weakened more than originally expected. Gustav reached the Gulf of Mexico in the early morning of August 31st with sustained wind speeds of 215 km / h and a core pressure of 958 hPa (mbar). Nevertheless, the hurricane was able to intensify again from category one to category three. The storm continued to move northwest and on September 1 hit the New Orleans metropolitan area as a category three hurricane, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina almost exactly three years earlier . But the hurricane's wind field is so large that almost the entire Gulf Coast of the United States was affected by winds at least as strong as a tropical storm. Although the eye of the hurricane reached the coast about 35 km west of Grand Isle as a Category 3 hurricane with wind speeds of 185 km / h, Gustav weakened slightly due to the influence of the country. On September 1, at 2:30 p.m. UTC, the storm center crossed the coastline near the village of Cocodrie with wind speeds of 175 km / h as a Category 2 hurricane. Over land, the hurricane quickly lost its intensity and was downgraded to a tropical storm around twelve hours later. The center was at that time about 30 km southwest of Alexandria , Louisiana and another six hours later Gustav was just a tropical low pressure area, the rain clouds of which harbored the danger of severe flooding.

Preparations

Windows boarded up with plywood in New Orleans.

In Cuba, the authorities brought 12,900 residents from the affected provinces in the west of the island to safety.

US President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency for the state of Louisiana - exactly on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina - which enabled the release of federal funds. The Federal Emergency Management Agency prepared the evacuation of the residents of New Orleans. Around 750 buses, but also railroad trains, were provided to take those affected further inland. The interstate highways have been converted to a one-way system, which means that the one-way lanes normally leading to New Orleans have also been opened for outgoing traffic. In total, around 1.9 million people had left southern Louisiana by the evening of August 31.

In contrast to 2005, no emergency shelter was set up in the Louisiana Superdome . On Saturday, August 30th, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin urged residents to leave the city. He also imposed a curfew on the city from sunset to sunrise.

Effects

Victims by Hurricane Gustav
Dominican Republic 8 dead
Haiti 76 dead
Jamaica 11 dead
United States 15 dead

After operational observation, Gustav developed from a tropical depression to a hurricane in just 14 hours, making Hurricane Gustav the 2007 record for Hurricane Humberto .

Dominican Republic

A landslide in the Dominican Republic killed eight people. According to government figures, 6,255 people were evacuated and 1,239 houses were damaged and 12 more were completely destroyed. About fifty localities were cut off from the outside world by floods.

Haiti

Gustav first hit land on August 26 at around 1:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. UTC ) about 15 km west of Jacmel in Haiti. When the storm was land-based, the rains caused landslides and flash floods. The city of Jacmel, where the center of the hurricane landed, was divided by flood water. A total of 66 deaths related to Gustav were recorded in Haiti. Another 22 were injured and around 3,500 families were at least harmed by the storm. However, OCHA suspects that the actual number of affected families is 25,000–30,000. In Haiti, tropical cyclones are often more devastating than on the neighboring islands, because most of the forests have been cut down, which means that rainwater runs off much faster.

Jamaica

In Jamaica , over which the storm only passed with the strength of a tropical storm, eleven people were reported to have been killed by Gustav. The heavy rain that was carried along caused various floods. The banana harvest in the parish of Saint Thomas , Saint Mary and Portland suffered severe damage. The bridge over the Hope River in the capital Kingston and the Georgia Bridge in Portland were destroyed. The government of Jamaica is currently assuming damage of 41.8 million US dollars only to the country's infrastructure.

Cayman Islands

In the Cayman Islands , rain and storm surge caused Gustav to flood roads on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman , the group's two eastern islands.

More than 1,100 people spent the night in emergency shelters made available by the island's government. Most of the residents waited for the storm to end at home or in hotels.

Cuba

On Saturday, August 30th, Gustav moved across Cuba, initially across Isla de la Juventud , south of the main island , where around 87,000 people live. According to the Cuban civil defense, many people were injured there. Almost all of the roads on the island have been washed away and some areas of the island have been flooded.

A few hours later, Gustav's eye wandered overland near Los Palacios in the province of Pinar del Río . Much of the country's tobacco production grows in this region. In Los Palacios the roofs of around 7,000 houses were covered by the storm, many of which collapsed completely. Rice plantations and banana plantations were badly damaged. According to initial information, 86,000 buildings (apartments, schools, clinics, etc.), hundreds of electricity pylons, as well as 3,400 tobacco houses and 60 poultry farms were destroyed in the province of Pinar del Rio. At least 450,000 people were evacuated in time.

According to the Cuban authorities, Gustav was the worst hurricane to hit the country in more than 50 years. The damage is therefore the largest since 1956. In the city of Paso Real de San Diego , a peak gust of 341 km / h was measured. The wind was so strong that the weather station instruments were damaged.

Although the storm in Cuba caused severe property damage, no deaths were reported.

Web links

Commons : Hurricane Gustav  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Pasch: Tropical Depression SEVEN Forecast / Advisory # 1 ( English ) National Hurricane Center . August 25, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  2. ↑ Eric Blake, Avila, Lixion: Tropical Storm GUSTAV Forecast Discussion # 13 ( English ) National Hurricane Center . August 28, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  3. ↑ Blake / Avila: Tropical Storm Gustav Special Advisory Number 14 . National Hurricane Center. August 28, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  4. ^ A b Will Weissert: Powerful Gustav heads for US after hitting Cuba ( English ) Associated Press . August 31, 2008. Archived from the original on September 2, 2008. Retrieved on August 31, 2008.
  5. ^ Pasch / Berg: Hurricane Gustav Intermediate Advisory Number 31A ( English ) National Hurricane Center. September 1, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  6. ↑ Beven: Hurricane Gustav Advisory Number 32 (10am) ( English ) National Hurricane Center. September 1, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  7. ↑ Brown / Franklin: Hurricane Gustav Public Advisory # 34 1000 PM CDT MON SEP 01 2008 ( English ) National Hurricane Center. September 1, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
  8. ↑ Pasch: Hurricane Gustav Public Advisory # 35 400 AM CDT TUE SEP 02 2008 ( English ) National Hurricane Center. September 2, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
  9. ↑ Granma: Preparados para enfrentar a Gustav ( Memento of the original dated August 31, 2008 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. dated August 30, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.granma.cubaweb.cu
  10. ↑ Bush declares an emergency in Louisiana . Spiegel Online . August 30, 2008. Retrieved August 30, 2008.
  11. ^ Ed Anderson: 1.9 million people evacuate south Louisiana (English) , The Times-Picayune. August 31, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008. 
  12. ↑ Bush tells Gulf Coast residents to flee 'dangerous' storm , CNN . August 31, 2008. 
  13. ↑ Sonja Isger: Gustav goes from tropical depression to hurricane in possible record time ( English ) Palm Beach Post. August 26, 2008. Archived from the original on August 26, 2008. Retrieved on August 26, 2008.
  14. ↑ Gustav floods Haiti, kills 11 . WABC . August 27, 2008. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. 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. Retrieved August 27, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / abclocal.go.com
  15. ↑ a b Tropical Storm Gustav OCHA Situation Report No. 3 ( English ) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . August 27, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  16. ↑ Jonathan M. Katz, Andrew O. Selsky and Alex Kennedy: Hurricane Gustav hits Haiti, drives up oil prices , Associated Press . August 26, 2008. Archived from the original on August 26, 2008. 
  17. ↑ Gustav weakens to tropical storm ( English ) CNN. August 26, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
  18. ↑ Will Weissert: Gustav swells to dangerous Cat 3 storm off Cuba . The Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 2, 2008. Retrieved on August 30, 2008.
  19. ↑ AFP: Deadly Gustav lashes Jamaica, eyes Cuba, US . AFP (via Google). August 29, 2008. Archived from the original on September 1, 2008. Retrieved on August 29, 2008.
  20. ^ Painful recovery - Gustav victims struggle to put lives back together . Jamaica Gleaner. August 31, 2008. Archived from the original on September 1, 2008. 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. Retrieved August 31, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jamaica-gleaner.com
  21. ↑ $ 3b damage - Gustav devastates road network - Full assessment pending ( English ) Jamaica Gleaner. September 1st, 2008. Archived from the original on September 2nd, 2008. 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. Retrieved September 1, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jamaica-gleaner.com
  22. ↑ Maura Axelrod: Gustav swells to dangerous Cat 3 storm off Cuba ( English ) Associated Press . August 30, 2008. Archived from the original on September 2, 2008. Retrieved on August 30, 2008.
  23. ^ Painful recovery - Gustav victims struggle to put lives back together . Agence France-Presse. August 31, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  24. ^ Hurricane Gustav: the worst storm in 50 years over Cuba . Cuba Sí. September 1, 2008. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. 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. Retrieved January 3, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cuba-si.org
  25. ^ Cuba: Gustav the worst hurricane in 50 years , Miami Herald. August 31, 2008.