A hurricane is a massive storm that moves 600miles with a lot of wind moving inwards and upwards with a tremendous speed of 75-200mph.Mitch hurricane is the storm that occurred in the Caribbean Sea on October 1998 causing a lot of destructions.it was the strongest and powerful hurricane to ever take place that season in the western hemisphere. The disturbances posed by the tropical waves in the West Africa moving across the Atlantic ocean brought about the occurrence of the of the Atlantic hurricane. The storm formed when the tropical waves were moving anticlockwise as it grew to create a tropical depression the Caribbean Sea.
Between October 22 to the 6th of November 1998, the Mitch took several stages as it occurred. On the first day of occurrence tropical depression formed winds moving at a very low speed of 39 mph, then winds developed into tropical storm moving towards the north at speed higher above 39mph. Two days later it developed great winds with speed of more than 74mph creating hurricane. As the days got moving the storm started moving towards the west at a speed of 180mph as it headed towards the center of the cyclone. The Mitch began to be weak by the time it was turning to the north coast from the south. On 29th the Mitch downgraded forming the tropical storms that were feeble, this storms developed landfalls that affected the Honduras. On the last day of the month of October, the Mitch continued to weaken as it formed a tropical depression that moving towards the southwest accompanied with heavy rains. When the month of November started the depression of the Mitch began to dissipate all over Guatemala. As the winds began to move towards the north, the remnants began to reform as tropical storms in the southern Gulf of Mexico. Two days later after the formation of the landfalls on the Gulf of the South Florida; the Mitch started moving towards the northeast across the Atlantic with an extra-tropical.
Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale classified the storms considering the maximum speed they could move. The first category of the storm had a rate of 119-153km/h, and 74-95mph.these winds were very dangerous that they caused a lot of damages on houses, trees, and the power lines. These destructions lasted for some days. The second extremely dangerous winds moved at a speed of 154-153 km/hr. and 96-110 mph was causing a lot of extensive damages. The power outage was experienced as the trees were uprooted and the house roofs removed. This storm lasted for several days causing more destruction. Causing more devastating damages, the third category of winds was moving at high speeds of 178-208 km/hr. and 111-129mph, they lasted for several days and weeks affecting the area around the sea. The fourth category of the storm was moving with 209-251km/hr. and 130-156mph speed of winds. Extreme damages caused by the people power, houses, and trees. These winds lasted for a month, the more it overstayed, the more destruction it caused. The fifth type of storm caused a lot of catastrophic damages as it was moving with a wind speed more than 252km/h and 157mph.the falling of the debris exposed the livestock and people to the great danger of losing life, and more buildings were damaged.
The occurrence of the Mitch accompanied with a lot of impacts ton the people plants and buildings that were around the sea. Due to the flooding people lost their lives as the plants were swept away with the water. There were a lot of infections and water-borne diseases like malaria, diarrhea and respiratory problems that affected people. A lot of hunger struck the area after the storm causing malnutrition.
The map of the hurricane.
References
- Cahoon, Donald R. Hurricane Mitch. 1st ed. [Lafayette, La.?]: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 2002. Print.
- NASA/GSFC,. “How Hurricanes Form And What Makes Them So Destructive”. Nationalgeographic.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.
- Hurricanes: Science And Society: Hurricane Life Cycle”. Hurricanescience.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.