remembering 2o10’s severe windstorms xynthia tropical storms and hurricanes: atlantic basin...
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REMEMBERING 2O10’S SEVERE WINDSTORMS
XynthiaTropical Storms and Hurricanes:
Atlantic BasinTropical Storms and Hurricanes:
Pacific BasinTyphoonsCyclones
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
Rain, floods, landslides, and Water-borne diseases are usually triggered by a tropical storm, hurricane,
typhoon, or cyclone.
IMPACTED NATIONS
Western Europe (France, Portugal, Spain), Caribbean (Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St Maarten, St Martin,…
IMPACTED NATIONS (Continued)
St Barthelemy, Saba, and St Eustatius), Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador), Mexico, USA (Texas), The Philippines, …
SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010
• High winds, storm surges, and heavy rains affected tens of thousands.
• Thousands of homes without power, damaged, destroyed, or inundated.
• Thousands evacuated.
• Lives and livelihoods of millions adversely impacted.
• Efforts to stop Gulf oil leak and Clean up slowed
SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010 (Continued)
• Infrastructure damaged and destroyed.
• $ billions in insured and uninsured economic losses.
WHAT WAS XYNTHIA?
Xynthia, a violent European windstorm with winds up to 140km/hr, crossed Western
Europe on 26–28 February 2010, and was the most violent storm since “Lothar” and “Martin” in
December 1999
A powerful storm surge with waves up to 7.5 m (25 ft) high hit at high tide and smashed through a 200-
year-old sea wall off France’s coastal town of L’Aiquillon-Sur-Mer
Xynthia: 1) caused flooding, 2) cut power to more than 1 million homes in France and Portugal,
respectively, 3) disrupted travel in Spain, 4) tore roofs off houses, 5)
downed trees, 6) caused at least 51 deaths, and 7) caused losses
estimated at $1.8 B ($1.4 insured).
The 2010 season was predicted to be less severe
than 2009 in the Pacific Basin and more severe in
the Atlantic Basin because of the diminished El Nino
conditions
The Eastern Pacific is, on average, the second-most active basin in the world with an average of 16 tropical storms annually, with 9 becoming hurricanes, and 4 becoming major hurricanes, frequently impacting
mainland Mexico and the Revillagigedo Islands, and
infrequently the USA.
PACIFIC BASIN TROPICAL STORMS – HURRICANES: 2010
• AGATHA
• BLAS
• CELIA (H)
• DARBY (H)
• ESTELLE
• FRANK (H)
TROPICAL STORM AGATHA STRIKES GUATEMALA
SHORTLY AFTER PACAVA ERUPTS
FIRST STORM OF PACIFIC SEASON FOLLOWS VOLCANIC ERUPTION
MAY 27-29, 2010
Tropical Storm Agatha was a weak, but catastrophic storm that made
landfall near the Guatemala-Mexico border on the evening of May 29.
Before the arrival of Tropical Storm Agatha, the Pacava volcano,
located 25 km south of Guatemala City, started spewing lava and ash
on Friday, May 28th, forcing the evacuation of hundreds.
Agatha produced torrential rain all across Central America, which
resulted in the death of one person in Nicaragua. 152 in Guatemala
(with another 100 missing because of landslides), and 13 in El
Salvador.
Sam Bonis, a geologist from Dartmouth, said that Guatemala
City is sitting on a bed of old volcanic ash that has not
completely lithified (turned into solid rock), and that he believed that the sinkhole was caused by
leaking pipes underground.
Remnants of the storm were expected to deliver 10 to 20 in (25 to
50 cm) of rain over southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El
Salvador, creating the possibility of "life-threatening flash floods and
mudslides.”
ATLANTIC BASIN TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES: 2010
• Alex (H)
• Bonnie
• Colin
• Danielle (H)
• Earl
TROPICAL STORM – HURRICANE ALEX:
The first named tropical storm of the 2010 Atlantic
Hurricane Season.
JUNE 26 - JULY 1, 2010
After forming on June 25, a tropical storm warning was issued for the
east coast of Quintana Roo on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and the
east coast of Belize
In the central Caribbean Sea, the system produced heavy rainfall in
the Dominican Republic that caused flooding and prompted the
evacuation of more than 3,000 people.
After making landfall in Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Tropical Storm Alex strengthened again as it entered the very warm waters of the Bay of Campeche.
On the evening of June 28, a hurricane warning was issued for the coast of Texas, south of Baffin
Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and by the Mexican Government from the Rio Grande south to La
Cruz.
Although waves and winds along Alex’s path slowed work to stop the
BP Gulf Oil Spill, in its 71st day of 107, the good news is that the
storm did not push the oil landward faster or accelerate movement of the oil eastward into the Atlantic.
25/08/2010 S.MORA 51
Hurricane Hurricane DanielleDanielle
Tropical Storm Tropical Storm EarlEarl