Hurricane Mitch
After a fairly active hurricane season, and a few weeks of Atlantic calm, a tropical depression began to develop in the southwest Caribbean. By this point, I did not think the depression would amount to much, but continued to watch the situation anyway. Much to my surprise, it advanced to Tropical Storm status within 24 hours and was renamed Mitch. Within the next few days, Mitch attained hurricane status and bloomed into the most powerful Carribean storm in years.
On 25 October 1998 Mitch attained Category 5 status with sustained winds of 180mph and
a central pressure of 905mb - equal to that of Hurricane Camille in 1968. Initial forecasting
indicated a track toward Cuba. Mitch, however, had other plans. As the storm drifted
westward toward Central America, TPC correctly forecast a stall near Honduras and
a northwesterly turn which would have taken it over the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. As tourists evacuated Acapulco,
Mitch stalled over the Bay Islands of Honduras, still a Category 4 hurricane. Storm
surge combined with incredible rainfall to cause massive flooding and mudslides along the Honduran coast.
Still unwilling to move north, Mitch punched inland striking the coast of Honduras head-on. Faced with 9000 -
13000 ft mountains, Mitch rapidly weakened back into a tropical depression, but continued to inundate inland Honduras
with enormous amounts of rain, worsening the flooding situation.
Finally, after seven days of constant rain, Mitch turned north and back out into the Gulf
- where he immediately re-strengthened to Tropical Storm status. With sustained winds of 55 knots, Mitch swept
the southern tip of Florida then moved rapidly into the Atlantic. Now moving at 28 knots, the final remnants
became extra-tropical and reduced to a cyclonic low beyond the Bahamas.
Tragically, the magnitude of the storm's destruction is only now beginning to come to
light. Honduras has had 50 years of infrastructure obliterated and 70% of the nations
bridges washed away. Early indications from friends in Honduras indicate that there was very little warning about
the storm's approach. This is confirmed by the TPC's own difficulties contacting the
Honduran government. Furthermore, since the nation has one of the regions most corrupt governments, my contacts
in the capitol have strongly urged anyone wishing to send assistance to forward it through Catholic
Relief Services.
The most catastrophic consequence of hurricane Mitch is, of course, the human toll. Nearly one million of the
nation's six million citizens are homeless; nearly 7000 are confirmed dead with between 11000 and 13000 still missing.
This makes Mitch potentially the deadliest hurricane in history.
Sequence of satellite images of Hurricane Mitch.
near Category 5 status
approaching Belize and Bay Islands
beginning to stall
later the same day
stalled over the bay islands. . . 
affected by the mountians of Honduras
moving inland
dissapation over the Honduran mountians
back to Tropical Storm status
approaching Florida with 55k winds
dying over the Atlantic.
