Hurricane Debby (2000)

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For other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Debby.

Hurricane Debby

Category 1 hurricane (SSHS)
Debby near peak intensity
Formed	August 19, 2000[1]
Dissipated	August 24, 2000[1]
Highest winds	85 mph (135 km/h)[1] (1-minute sustained)
Lowest pressure	991 mbar (hPa)[1]
Damage	$735,000 (2000 USD) $816,250 (2005 USD)
Fatalities	0 direct, 1 indirect[1]
Areas affected	Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, Cuba, Jamaica, Florida
Part of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Debby was a minimal Category 1 hurricane that formed in mid-to-late August of the year 2000. Debby formed east of the Windward Islands on August 19, 2000, becoming the seventh tropical cyclone of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm strengthened to a hurricane the next day, becoming the fourth named storm and second hurricane of the year. Afterwards, it moved west, passing over the Leeward Islands, and just north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Debby remained somewhat disorganized for the rest of its lifespan, and dissipated off the southern coast of Cuba on the 24th.

In Barbuda, Debby caused moderate roof damage; throughout the Lesser Antilles, gusty winds damaged fruit trees and power lines. In the United States Virgin Islands, damage estimates added up to $200,000 (2000 USD, $222,000 2005 USD). Debby also dropped up to 12 inches (30.5 cm) of rain across Puerto Rico, causing mudslides and damaging bridges and roads. 406 homes were affected from the flooding, with damage totaling to $501,000 (2000 USD, $556,000 2005 USD), primarily in the municipality of Caguas. Also on the island, the storm was indirectly responsible for one death. On the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, waves and rainfall caused light to moderate damage; in Cuba, the remnants of Debby helped relieve a severe drought.

Contents 1 Storm history 2 Preparations 3 Impact 3.1 Lesser Antilles 3.2 United States territories 3.3 Dominican Republic 3.4 Other Caribbean islands 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Storm history

Debby's origins can be tracked to a tropical wave that moved off the African coast on August 16, and that carried unusually strong wind of 60 mph (95 km/h), but lacked a closed circulation. While moving across the Atlantic, the wave gradually weakened, but actually gained more organization during that time. The tropical system was designated as Tropical Depression 7 by the National Hurricane Center on August 19 after gaining even more organization. At seven's point of formation, it was located approximately 1,036 miles (1,667 km) east of the Windward Islands. The area of disturbed weather began strengthening, and became a tropical storm 12 hours later, receiving the name Debby.^[1]

Tropical Storm Debby quickly strengthened to a category 1 hurricane the following day. However, the hurricane-force winds were very concentrated, extending only 25 miles (40 km) from the storm's center of circulation.^[2] Debby reached a peak intensity of 85 mph (135 km/h) according to the analysis following the hurricane season, but it had a a minimum central pressure of only 1004 mbar (hPa) at this point. After weakening slightly, Debby reached its lowest recorded pressure of 991 mbar (hPa), but packed winds of only 80 mph (130 km/h).^[1]

Debby remained a somewhat-disorganized hurricane for the rest of its life. It moved west, passing over Barbuda early on August 22 with 75 mph (120 km/h) winds, and struck St. Barthelemy and Virgin Gorda as a minimal hurricane shortly after. From there, it moved west, just north of the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. While passing just miles north of Hispaniola's coastline, vertical wind shear and mountainous conditions weakened the tropical cyclone to a tropical storm. Debby began moving west-southwest and lost its closed circulation off the southeastern coast of Cuba on August 24.^[1] The remnants of Debby became a strong tropical wave that continued moving west towards the Yucatán Peninsula.^[3] The remnant low curved northeast and brought strong winds to Cuba and Florida in the subsequent days.^[1]

[edit] Preparations

Several storm warnings were issued for the Caribbean islands to warn their residents of the upcoming storm. In Philipsburg, St. Maarten, several shops in the downtown area were boarded up to prepare for Debby's approach. Elsewhere along the range of the cyclone's predicted path, homes and businesses were boarded up, and families buried emergency supplies in the ground. Ten U.S. Naval ships and two submarines off the Coast of Vieques Island temporarily abandoned their training exercises and moved over three hundred miles to the south of Puerto Rico, out of the storm predicted path. On Antigua, electricity was shut down to prevent storm damage to the island's infrastructure. When the hurricane moved into the coastal waters of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Hovensa oil refinery in St. Croix was shut down, and as a result gas prices rose.^[2]

Around 7,000 people in Cuba were evacuated to avoid the oncoming hurricane.^[4] Several shelters across the northern Caribbean were open to people, but few people took refuge there.^[5] Over Forty shelters were ready for use in Nassau, Bahamas, even though Debby never affected the island. A total of 889 people in the northern coastal plains were evacuated and placed in shelters out of Debby path.^[6] Three shelters were opened for the coming of Debby in St. Thomas, and another two in St. John. The total amount of people in all five shelters only reached 64. An additional 17 people took refuge in an unknown number of shelters on St. Croix.^[7]

Florida declared a state of emergency for the Florida Keys, even though the hurricane was still far from Florida^[8] Non-residents in Monroe County were forced to leave, causing a significant reduction in the tourism for that year.^[1] For a period of time, forecasters predicted Debby to approached the Florida Keys was for the storm to be a Category Two Hurricane, while the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory predicted a much more intense Debby near the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane with a minimum central pressure of 926 mbar (hPa).^[9]

[edit] Impact

Debby caused one indirect death in Puerto Rico and up to $735,000 (2000 USD, $816,250 2005 USD) in damages. Rainfall totals reached as high as one foot in Puerto Rico, and lesser amounts were recorded in other areas along the hurricane's path.

[edit] Lesser Antilles

Throughout the Leeward Islands, gusty winds damaged fruit trees and downed power lines. In Barbuda, Debby caused moderate roof damage to several structures.^[1] A total of 1.5 inches (38 mm) of rain fell over half of the country of Antigua and Barbuda.^[4] In Antigua, downed utility poles and trees were spotted .^[10] Rainfall totals in the region were at 0.91 inches (23 mm).^[4] St. Martin reported little rainfall as the storm almost uneventfully passed over the island. The only damage reported from St. Martin was some minor flooding and some plant and tree damage.^[11] St. Thomas officially received 1.93 inches of rain.^[12] Away from the storm in the southernmost end of the Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago had a feeder band develop over the country which resulted in flooding in the Barrackpore region.^[13]

[edit] United States territories

In the United States Virgin Islands, damaged totals were at $200,000 (2000 USD, $222,000 2005 USD). Other than that, damage was mostly from brief power blackouts.^[14][15] On St. Thomas, one sailboat was washed ashore on Vessup Beach and minor landscape damage occurred on St. John. 0.46 inches (11.7 mm) of rain fell in St. Croix.^[7]

Debby also dropped up to 12 inches (30.5 cm) of rainfall across Puerto Rico in less than 48 hours, causing mudslides and damage to bridges and roads.^[16] But most of the island territory only received 3 inches (7.62 mm) of rain. The maximum rainfall on the island was 12.63 inches (32 cm) in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Another measurement of rain that was nearly as high as that was 12.16 inches (31 cm) in Cayey 1, Puerto Rico, though there were unofficial reports of 17 inches (43 cm) of rain in the interior mountains.^[8] Because of these heavy rains, several mudslides were reported inland.^[17] The hurricane dropped around 5 inches (127 mm) of rain in San Juan, producing slick roads that resulted in several minor car accidents.^[8][18] 406 homes were affected from the flooding, with damage totaling to $501,000 (2000 USD, $556,000 2005 USD), primarily in the Caguas municipality.^[16][14] Five houses were moderately to severely damaged; three of which were wooden and the other two being constructed out of concrete.^[7] The storm was also indirectly responsible for the death of a 78-year-old man who while trying to remove a satellite dish from the roof of his home, fell to his death.^[8][19][1]

[edit] Dominican Republic

On the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, waves and rainfall caused light to moderate damage.^[1] Twenty some homes in various places across the northern coast of the country were swept out to sea. At San José de Matanzas, several coconut trees were uprooted from the ground. Also, two houses were slightly damaged from wind gusts. In the nearby town of La Vega, bridges over the Piedra River and Jumunucu River collapsed due to the heavy rainfall and flooding. Another town, Salcedo, lost approximately 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of bananas, with the damage costs at $34,000 (2000 USD, $37,750 2005 USD) or RD$500,000 (2000 DOP).^[4] The country's Civil Defense Force stated that over 700 people on the northern coast were forced out of their homes after severe flooding. Whether or not the people were returned to their homes is unknown.^[19]

[edit] Other Caribbean islands

Port-de-Paix, Haiti, encountered some outer rain bands that tore away many tin roofs from the numerous shanties and flooded some homes. A small coastal village, Carenage, experienced high winds that sunk at least five boats. Storm surge also swept away one home, but without any reports of injury or death.^[19] In Cuba, the remnants of Debby helped relieve a severe drought.^[1] An 8-month-long drought was afflicting Guantanamo, Cuba, until Debby brought heavy rainfall to the area, putting the widespread thirst to rest. This pleased the local Cubans.^[20] Shortly after the storm had dissipated and moved on westward, nearly all of 30,000 or so people displaced because of Debby returned to their homes in Cuba.^[20] Heavy rain from Debby's remnants was also dropped on Jamaica.^[21]

Because of the minimal damage resulted from Debby, the name was not retired by the World Meteorological Organization in the spring of 2001. It was again used in the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season for a minor tropical storm that caused light rain over Cape Verde.

[edit] See also

• Tropical cyclone
• List of notable tropical cyclones
• List of notable Atlantic hurricanes
• History of hurricanes in the Caribbean

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hurricane Debby NHC Tropical Cyclone Report
• Hurricane Hunters in the eye of Debby
• Unisys track