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Cuba Hurricanes Historic Threats
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Chronicle
of hurricanes in Cuba
Hurricanes are the more devastating natural disasters
occurred in Cuba during this century and in particular
at the cyclone season from October to November.
However, only four got a dantesque character because
of the human and material lost that it provoked.
These four took place before 1959. Four years later,
the Cuban government designed and passed a Measure
System for Civil Defense of the country. It reduced
damages of every type.
On October 20, 1926 a hurricane crossed over Isle
of Pines and Havana with maximum winds of 230-250
KMS /H. It left 600 deaths and classified as the
most expensive of the Cuban history by the fact
that losses reached to 300 millions of dollars.
For Cubans, November 9, 1932, it is one of the fatal
dates among all. That day, the worst catastrophic
cyclone took place with winds of almost 250 KMS/H
and the formation of storm tidal at southern waters
of Camaguey, creating a huge wave of six meters
of height. That day 3 033 persons went dead and
prejudices reached to 40 millions dollars.
From a meteorological point of view, the most intense
event, among the four big ones occurred on October
18 1944, with a combination of heavy rains with
sustained gust of 262 KMS/H.
This one however, was the one that took fewer lives
away at the capital of the country, since 300 people
died.
From October 4 to 7, 1963, the Flora hurricane,
with winds of up to 209 KMS/H flooded mountain chain
of Sierra Maestra and its water hits searching a
way out to the sea, caused the Cauto river a changing
of its bed.
It caused death to more than one thousand farmers
and indeterminate economic losses, and right from
that tragic experience, the Revolutionary Government
decided the creation of the Civil defense and the
development of a meteorological service that up
to that moment it only counted with two specialists.
On March 13, 1993 the badly called "The Century
Storm" reached wind gust superior to a hurricane,
and it provoked enormous losses and damaged 30 thousands
houses.
It caused damage to two thousand 500 economic and
social centers and the basic services of the population,
it paralyzed temporarily the sugar harvest from
Pinar del Río up to
Ciego de Avila and whole plantations went down with
highly appreciated cultivation, such as bananas.
These atmospheric phenomena are not exclusive to
Cuba, but to the whole tropical zone, since the
North Atlantic region, including the Mexican Gulf
and the Caribbean Sea, are classified as the fourth
place in the world with respect to the formations
of cyclones.
When one of them reaches sustained winds of 62 KMS/H,
you are witnessing a depression of 63 to 1117 is
a tropical storm if it goes over 118, it is a hurricane,
although it is not an isolated point, but an extensive
zone of hurricane winds up to 200 KMS around the
center.
Each one receives a name to ease communication among
the forecaster and people to whom messages go, so
the Hurricanes Committee of the IV Regional Association
of the World Organization of Meteorology elaborated
lists in English, French and Spanish for several
years.
A season begins with a man name and the other one
with a woman and for those who receive it, need
to reach a storm stage: a tropical or hurricane
one. This denomination is kept meanwhile they exist,
in spite of the fact they become weak and only be
a tropical depression.
According to figures, Cuba has suffered 100 cyclones
in this century, from which 10 have been great hurricanes.
The greatest part of cyclones in the period October-November
are created at the western Caribbean Sea, at the
southern part of Cuba and tend to move in courses
next to the North and Northeast, so they are always
a threat for the central and western provinces.
But the truth is, they are not the only ones causing
problems, since the Niño stream (The Boy
Stream ) creates unusual climate disorders, according
to the time depending in greater or less heating
of water at the sea surface, since they are warmer
, they release greater quantity of energy.
This progressive movement caused in the country
a great quantity of rain and strong winds and tornadoes
between January, February and March of 1983 from
which, specialists of the Meteorology Institute
began a deeper study.
In the years, of the Niño appearance, researches
shed surprising results during the rainy period,
from May to October when precipitation started to
behave under the historic average and its beginning
is delayed.
Apart from that, polemic winter months in Cuba present
heavy rains. On the contrary, experts of the National
Center for the Climate, the Meteorology Institute,
think that the presence of this phenomenon, La Niña
(The Girl) at the Pacific Ocean is the cause of
the notable reduction of rains between December
and February.
At the inverse of what has happened with El Niño,
or La Niña (The Boy or The Girl), the cooling
of waters at the Pacific, causes very dried winters
in Cuba and adjacent zones, since it inhibits the
development of thick clouds with rains preceding
the coming of winter fronts.
This assumed little girl, who does not have anything
of an angel disappeared in May 1999 and came back
in November, and at the end of December of that
same year reached the strong event phase, something
that only occurred in three occasions through the
last 110 years.
In response to the climate fund conditions in a
great scale, established by the La Niña Event,
months of period of little rain from 1998 - 1999
were characterized by great contrasts.
Temperatures from January to April constituted the
warmest since 1951 and there was a moment in which
it ascended to 38.8 grades Celsius, but after a
normal February, March behaved as one of the coldest
ones since 1981.
In December 1999, there was a deficit of rains that
turned the most important one since 1941, which
brought about a worsening of the draught impact
in the already affected zones.
If Cubans could move the archipelago farther than
parallels and meridians that keep it at the Caribbean
Sea, it is probable we could escape of the terrible
passion cyclones and draughts feel for Cuba, although
then we were threatened by atmospheric phenomena
characteristic of other geographic regions.
So there is no choice but living with them and consequences
and to go on practicing a lot time ago: to be prepared
to face them. |
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| Cyclone of the Five Days |
Category SS-3
Date October 13th to 17th 1910
Affected provinces Pinar del Río / La Habana
/ Island of Youth
Barometric minimum 960 hPa
Wind speed 183 km/h (e)
Main feature Flooding
Material damages not exactly quantified
Human loss 700 death (e)
 Synopsis
Flooding, extraordinarily extensive, was consequence
of rainfall persisting over 6 days in a row, due
to the trail of the hurricane that, after crossing
over the west end of Cuba, made a loop to the NW
of the province of Pinar del Río. All crops
– particularly tobacco- and rural housing
were destroyed and cattle was decimated to a high
degree. The case of large amount of heads of cattle
dragged and drowned in the flooding was repeatedly
cited.
Rescue
at Havana |
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| Hurricane of 1924 |
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Category SS-5
Date October 18th to 19th 1924
Affected provinces Pinar del Río / Island
of Youth
Barometric minimum 916 hPa (not registered over
Cuba)
Wind speed 250 km/h (e)
Main feature destruction caused by dynamic effect
of the wind
Material damages not exactly quantified
Human loss 90 death (e)
 Synopsis
This hurricane crossed over the Peninsula of Guanahacabibes
at the West End of Pinar del Río, and severely
damaged tobacco crops. It affected even the most
robust buildings on the zone and destroyed the
entire communications infrastructure over the
West half of the province. It seriously affected
five ships of large size and sunk many smaller
vessels, mainly dedicated to fishing.
Tower
of the radiotelegraph station at La Fé,
twisted and torn down by the strength of the winds
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| Cyclone of 1926 |
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Category SS-4
Date October 20th 1926
Affected provinces Island of Youth / La Habana
/ Pinar del Río / Matanzas
Barometric minimum 939 hPa
Wind speed 196 km/h
Main feature seven hours over Havana
Material damages 100 million pesos (e)
Destruction caused by dynamic effect of the wind
and storm surge
Human loss about 600 death
 Synopsis
It seriously affected the West part of the country,
particularly the capital city. The strength of
the wind demolished crops and noticeably affected
the industrial infrastructure of the city. It
sank a large amount of fluvial vessels and a great
many among those anchored at the harbor. Thousands
of houses were destroyed and tens of bodies dragged
out to sea.
Palm tree gone through
by a wooden beam
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| Hurricane of Santa Cruz del
Sur 1932 |
 Category SS-5
Date September 9th 1932
Affected provinces Camagüey / Ciego de Ávila
/ Las Tunas
Barometric minimum 915 hPa (not registered over
Cuba)
Wind speed 240 km/h (At Nuevitas, Camagüey)
Main feature storm surge
Material damages not exactly quantified
Human loss 3 033 death and thousands injured and
affected
Synopsis
It constitutes the greatest natural disaster of
the XX century in Cuba. It mainly affected buildings
on the province of Camagüey, but coastal facilities
on the south coast were completely devastated. This
hurricane produced a 6 m storm surge at Santa Cruz
del Sur and other locations on the south coast of
Camagüey. On this village alone it caused over
2500 death. |
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Current Threats
