Hurricane Lili (2002)

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Hurricane Lili
Category 4 hurricane ( SSHWS )
Hurricane Lili at its peak
Hurricane Lili at its peak
Emergence 21st September
resolution October 6th
Peak wind
speed
145  mph (230  km / h ) (sustained for 1 minute)
Lowest air pressure 938  mbar ( hPa ; 27.7  inHg )
dead 13 direct, 2 indirect
Property damage $ 882 million (2002)
Affected
areas
Leeward Islands , Cuba , Jamaica , Haiti , Louisiana
Season overview:
2002 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Lili was the twelfth named storm, the fourth hurricane and the second major hurricane of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season and its most momentous storm in terms of both property damage and the number of people who lost their lives as a result of the effects of the storm. The storm developed in the open Atlantic on September 21 and moved westward, affecting the Lesser Antilles , before breaking up over the Caribbean Sea as it was exposed to vertical wind shear south of Cuba . Moving further northwest, the system regenerated and intensified into a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale . Lili moved across western Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico , where the hurricane intensified rapidly during October 2nd . After Lili became a severe hurricane with a Category 4 hurricane that same afternoon, a slowdown followed and the next day Lili hit the Louisiana coast as a Category 1 hurricane . The storm moved over the mainland of the United States and resolved on October 6th.

On its way through the Caribbean, the cyclone caused extensive damage, mainly to crops and poorly built housing. Lili caused landslides and flash floods on the mountainous islands of Haiti and Jamaica . Once in the United States, the storm cut off oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and severely damaged parts of Louisiana , including the islands and marshlands in the south of the state. The total damage amounted to 860 million US dollars and 15 people lost their lives in the storm.

Storm course

Train track from Hurricane Lili.

A tropical wave broke off the West African coast on September 16. On September 20, this resulted in a low pressure disorder with a circulation , roughly halfway between Africa and the Caribbean . The next day the system had organized itself enough to be classified as a tropical depression. The low pressure area moved westwards at a forward speed of more than 30 km / h and intensified during the passage over the Lesser Antilles to the tropical storm Lili. The cyclone intensified on its way through the eastern Caribbean and initially reached its greatest strength on the morning of September 24 with a peak wind speed of 110 km / h. The peak was immediately followed by an abrupt weakening and the maximum sustained winds fell to 65 km / h over the course of the day. The sudden weakening was attributed to southerly vertical wind shear . The system disintegrated into an open tropical wave the next morning and remained in this state for almost two days.

Hurricane Lili near Cuba

Lili regenerated on the evening of September 26th near Jamaica and continuously followed a more west-northwest course during the intensification. On September 30th, Lili became a hurricane just as the system was sweeping across the Cayman Islands . The storm intensified further, crossed Isla de la Juventud and moved across western Cuba at Pinar del Río as a Category 2 hurricane. Lili crossed the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the course of the day without losing much of her strength during the overland passage.

The system turned northwest and accelerated. It became a major hurricane on October 2, approximately 350 miles south-southeast of New Orleans . The intensification continued supported by the warm water surface in the Gulf of Mexico and the well-organized outflow. Lili reached the greatest intensity in the afternoon of October 2nd with sustained wind speeds of 235 km / h as a category 4 hurricane.

The hurricane did not maintain this intensity for long. It began to weaken quickly by mid-morning on October 3, and that trend continued until Lili made landfall near Intracoastal City , Louisiana. It was caused by vertical wind shear and cooler water just offshore, as well as the slow penetration of dry air in its southwest quadrant. By the time it hit the mainland, the constant wind speeds had dropped to 135 km / h. The weakening was associated with a collapse of the internal eyewall . The system continued on its way inland, arching north-northeast, and disintegrating on October 6 when it was absorbed by an extra-tropical system near the Arkansas / Tennessee state line .

Preparations

National Hurricane Center train forecast for September 30, 2002

Storm warnings were triggered in parts of the Lesser Antilles on September 22 and expanded to storm warnings the next afternoon. After the storm hit, those warnings were lifted late on September 23rd. During the week, separate storm warnings were issued for the islands of Hispaniola , Jamaica, Cuba, the Cayman Islands and the Yucatán Peninsula at different times. Storm and hurricane warnings were issued on the Gulf Coast on October 1 and upgraded to warnings the next morning. These were lifted when the storm hit land on October 3rd.

Because the cyclone hit the Lesser Antilles as a weak tropical storm, preparations there were minimal. Two hundred families left their homes before the storm hit St. Vincent and the Grenadines . In Jamaica, schools and universities were closed before the storm hit and a total of 17 emergency shelters made available.

The preparations in Cuba were more extensive. A total of 130,000 Cubans were evacuated before the storm, mostly in the west of the island. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base leadership prepared a possible evacuation of the prisoners at Camp Delta.

Hit probabilities by Lili when the hurricane was still in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

Measures taken along the Gulf Coast prior to the hurricane hit were pushed more forcefully than was predicted that Lili would hit the coast in Category 4. More than half a million residents left their homes in Texas and Louisiana, including all of Iberia Parish . The evacuation affected 200,000 Louisiana residents. Over two thousand volunteers set up reception centers in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama . More than 20,000 people initially stayed in these emergency shelters. More than 160,000 meals have been brought into the area through the Red Cross. In Texas, about 3,000 inmates were taken to prisons further inland. The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis was postponed by five days because the Kennedy Space Center was threatened by the hurricane. It was the first time that a launch in Florida was postponed due to poor weather conditions in Houston . Hamster purchases took place in the areas where warnings of the storm were received. Tool and building supplies stores were short in New Iberia , and stores in Lafayette reported similar shortages.

Lectures at Southern University were suspended for four days because of Lili, and two sports competitions at the University of South Alabama were canceled because of the storm.

Effects

Number of victims by state
Country dead
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4th
Jamaica 4th
Haiti 4th
Cuba 1
United States 2
total 15th

Hurricane Lili was the most momentous storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season in terms of both property damage and loss of life. A total of 13 people were killed in the Caribbean islands and two more were killed in the United States by Lili. In the Lesser Antilles, the hurricane caused severe crop failures and destroyed livestock. Damage to buildings and other infrastructure was also reported from other Caribbean countries and the USA.

Lesser Antilles

Lili passed over the Lesser Antilles as a tropical storm; the winds usually did not reach the strength of a hurricane, although some of the gusts exceeded the mark of 119 km / h. Up to 120 mm of rain led to landslides. The winds covered numerous houses with poor roof structures, but most of the damage primarily affected the banana harvest.

On the island of St. Lucia , at least three quarters of the banana trees were lost and hundreds of homes were damaged by the storm. The supply of electricity, water and telephone almost completely came to a standstill and disposal facilities were badly damaged. Four people on the island lost their lives to Lili and the property was estimated to be around 20 million US dollars

The storm in Barbados damaged more than 600 houses, and the winds knocked over half of the trees. Similar to St. Lucia, the banana harvest was also significantly damaged here. The island republic's electricity and telephone network was also disrupted. The damage in Barbados amounted to approximately $ 200,000.

In Grenada , 14 house roofs were damaged and another was completely destroyed. The island's hospital has suffered and a dozen landslides have been reported. The infrastructure was also affected, about three bridges in St. Patrick's Parish, seven clarifiers and a drinking water supply system. At times the whole island was without electricity; however, the failures were quickly rectified, as the storm did not have as much damage to the pipeline network.

The consequences for St. Vincent and the Grenadines were relatively clear when one considers the other islands in the area. The storm damaged several hundred houses and two schools, and the roof of a police station was covered; However, the storm had its most pronounced effects in agriculture. Overall, the damage to the archipelago amounted to 40 million US dollars (2002).

Haiti

Lili passed on the coast of Haiti as a dissolving tropical storm. The storm was mainly affected by heavy rain , which reached more than 400 mm near Camp-Perrin. As a result, the Ravine du Sud River overflowed its banks and flooded buildings in the city. Two people died in landslides caused by the rains in the deforested hill country of Haiti and two others drowned in the floods around Camp-Perrin. Agriculture, infrastructure and more than 1,700 houses - 240 of them were destroyed - were also badly damaged.

Jamaica

In Jamaica, Lili still had an impact as a tropical storm. Individual gusts of wind reached 110 km / h and precipitation of almost 600 mm led to damage to houses, utilities and agriculture.

Extremely heavy rainfall put the island under water. The highest amount of rain was measured in the Cedar Valley with 565 mm of precipitation - that is more rain than in parts of Germany over the whole year. These masses of water triggered landslides and mudslides on the island, killing four people. The sugar cane harvest has been severely decimated. For Jamaica this product is one of the most important export goods. The floods caused far-reaching problems with the island's infrastructure. The island's hospitals were all partially submerged and the storm caused structural damage in three of them. Septic tanks and other sewage systems overflowed, thereby contaminating drinking water supply facilities.

Cuba

Lili crossed the Isla de la Juventud as a Category 2 hurricane and on October 1st came across land in this strength in the Pinar del Rŕo . Wind speeds of 180 km / h and rainfall of 150 mm caused widespread damage to houses, businesses and crops. One person was killed in the storm in Cuba.

The damage to buildings and other structures was extensive. The effects were most evident in the provinces of Pinar del Río and La Habana . A total of 48,000 houses were damaged, 16,000 of which lost their roofs. Sancti Spíritus was less affected , where only 945 houses were damaged. The provinces in the east of the island, including Guantanamo, recorded a similar pattern of damage. In parts of the western provinces, it took weeks for the power supply to work again. One consequence of this was that pumps for pumping groundwater were out of order and individual villages had to be supplied with drinking water from outside. Tobacco and rice cultivation was badly damaged, but the exact damage caused by Lili was difficult to determine because Isidore had struck the region just a week earlier.

Louisiana

Cumulative rainfall from Lili in the United States.

Lili arrived near Intracoastal City on the morning of October 3 as a weak Category 1 hurricane overland. The wind reached speeds of more than 195 km / h in gusts and the heavy precipitation added up to more than 150 mm locally. The storm surge reached a level of 3.7 m above normal. The property damage in Louisiana was more than $ 860 million US dollars. The supply of electrical energy for more than 237,000 residents was temporarily interrupted and the oil platforms off the coast ceased operations for more than a week. The crops were clearly damaged, especially sugar cane ; the agricultural losses amounted to nearly 175 million US dollars. In Louisiana, the early warnings and the relatively compact wind field killed no one directly.

Vermilion Parish was hit hardest . Gusts of wind and storm surge caused major damage to almost 4,000 houses. Twenty buildings belonging to a helicopter company were destroyed in Intracoastal City. One person died in the storm and twenty were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Lili floods on the Louisiana coast

Acadia Parish was also badly hit . Here the gusts of wind reached up to 175 km / h and the hurricane triggered five tornadoes in this parish . Several thousand houses were damaged in this county and more than 2500 of them were seriously damaged. The electricity went out across the board, two people were injured and another was killed after the storm. Property damage to the schools of the Parish totaled around $ 1.6 million.

Mississippi

Lili's outer rainbands dumped large amounts of rain over Mississippi, and the gusts of wind reached the state as strong as a tropical storm. In Pascagoula gusts of wind of 65 km / h were measured and the highest amount of precipitation received Picayune with 105 mm. Local power outages occurred particularly in the south of Mississippi and the damage to houses and infrastructure in this state amounted to 30 million US dollars (2002). Mississippi was spared from personal injury.

Arkansas

Lili's residual depth brought heavy rainfall of up to 100 mm to southeast Arkansas before the system finally disintegrates near the state border between Arkansas and Tennessee . No significant damage was reported from Arkansas.

consequences

Counties in Louisiana declared a disaster area by President Bush.

As of the cut-off date, FEMA had submitted more than 153,000 applications for grants to repair damage. More than 311 million US dollars in federal aid has been disbursed in Louisiana, but 50 million of which US dollars than a grant, but in the form of a loan granted with low interest rates.

More than a thousand professionals from eight states came to the hardest hit areas to restore power. Seven states sent tree surgeons to help clean fallen trees from utility lines and roads. FEMA awarded state utility SLEMCO a $ 8.6 million grant, which covered three-quarters of the damage to the utility grid. It took four weeks before the supply of electrical energy was resumed for all customers.

Hurricane Lili caused significant environmental damage in the Marshes and Barrier Islands in Louisiana. Widespread fish kill has been observed near its impact on the coast and in the Atchafalaya Swamp . The islands to the east of it were exposed to the strongest surf and consequently badly eroded . Sand was deposited behind the islands in the brackish marshland, where it buried the vegetation with it. The marshland was badly damaged by wind and storm surge, and in some places completely destroyed. Coastal erosion created a series of new connections between inland bodies of water and the Gulf of Mexico, making the lagoons even more exposed to erosion.

Deletion of the name

The name Lili was removed from the list of tropical cyclone names in the Caribbean in the spring of 2003 because of its destructive and lethal effects and will never be used again in the Atlantic Basin. He was replaced with the name Laura for the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season , which prevailed against other name suggestions such as Lucy and Lisette.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

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  4. Avila / Blake: NHC Public Advisory # 1 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  6. Stewart: NHC Public Advisory # 13 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  7. Jarvinen / Molleda: NHC Public Advisory # 15 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  8. Jarvinen / Molleda: NHC Forecast Discussion # 15 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  9. ^ Franklin: NHC Public Advisory # 36 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  12. Beven: NHC Public Advisory # 44 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  13. Beven: NHC Forecast Discussion # 44 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  14. Beven: NHC Public Advisory # 45 ( English ) NHC. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  34. Barbados National Assessment Report on the Implementation of the Barbados Program of Action ( English , DOC; 1.2 MB) Ministry of Housing Lands and the Environment of the Government of Barbados. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  35. ORE: Hurricane Lili Was Accompanied by Torrential Rains As it Passed Over Haiti ( English ) ORE. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  38. a b c IFRC: Press Releases: Caribbean: Tropical Storm Isidore - Sep 2002, Cuban community left reeling by Isidore and Lili ( English ) Relief Web. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  40. ^ OCHA: Caribbean - Tropical Storm Lili OCHA Situation Report No. 8 ( English ) Relief Web. 2002. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
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  43. ^ NWS New Orleans: Post Tropical Cyclone Report Hurricane Lili ( English ) NWS New Orleans. 2002. Archived from the original on October 16, 2002. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  44. Mike Brassfield: Hurricane Lili Runs Out of Steam ( English ) St. Petersburg Times. 2002. Retrieved April 9, 2008.
  45. FEMA: Louisiana Aid Deadline Looms, 153,000 Have Applied ( English ) FEMA. 2002. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved on November 8, 2008.
  46. ^ The New Orleans Channel: FEMA Fans Out After Storms ( English ) WDSU. 2002. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
  47. FEMA: Lili Recovery at More Than a Quarter Billion Dollars ( English ) FEMA. 2002. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved on April 10, 2008.
  48. ^ Hurricane Lili Aid ( English ) WTVY. 2002. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
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