Hurricane Rick (1997)

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This article is about the Pacific hurricane of 1997; for other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Rick.

Hurricane Rick (1997)

Category 2 hurricane (SSHS)

Hurricane Rick at landfall on Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane.

Formed

November 7, 1997

Dissipated

November 11, 1997

Highest
winds

100 mph (155 km/h) (1-minute sustained)

Lowest pressure

973 mbar (hPa; 28.74 inHg)

Fatalities

None

Damage

Unknown

Areas
affected

Mexico

Part of the
1997 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Rick was the last named storm and hurricane to form in the 1997 Pacific hurricane season in the East Pacific basin and the second to last to form in the Pacific east of the International Date Line. Rick was a short-lived Category 2 hurricane that weakened before making landfall in Mexico almost a month after the more powerful Hurricane Pauline made landfall in the same country. Most of the damage associated with Pauline was exacerbated by the weaker Rick, which struck during rebuilding efforts.

Damage from Rick was fairly minor. As Rick was heading towards Mexico, the people on the coastline evacuated due to the impact of Pauline making them more prepared to deal with another hurricane, leading to no casualties.^[1]

1 Storm history
2 Preparations
3 Impact
- 3.1 Records
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Storm history

Storm path

The tropical wave that formed into Rick left Africa on October 15. Because of a lack of organization along the wave, the main way it was tracked into the Pacific Ocean was by continuity.^[2] After it crossed into the Pacific, the wave started gaining cloudiness on November 5 while south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The wave began gaining an ill-defined circulation and banding features as satellite estimates began on November 6. The disturbance became better organized and formed into Tropical Depression 19-E on November 7 while moving northwest.^[2]

The depression made a slow turn to the north due to a trough while steadily gaining deep convection in the center and, around noon on August 8, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Rick. The storm developed a cold central dense overcast on November 9 and became a hurricane later that day while inside southeasterly flow and moving northeast. Eventually, an eye was visible on satellite that day and it was estimated that the hurricane hit its peak intensity of 100 mph (160 km/h) and 973 mbar by mid-day when the hurricane exhibited a well developed center on Acapulco radar, making it a high-end Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale^[2], although some sources say that Rick was a Category 3 major hurricane at its peak.^[3] It was tracked by radar while it moved to the east-northeast until it weakened to 85 mph (137 km/h) prior to its landfall on the state of Oaxaca on November 10.^[2] Around the time of landfall, hurricane force winds extended 35 miles (56 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds extended 115 miles (185 km) from the center.^[4] Rick continued to weaken while moving parallel to Mexico's coast along the Gulf of Tehuantepec before dissipating into a convectionless swirl of clouds over Chiapas on November 11.^[2]

[edit] Preparations

Hurricane Rick on November 9 near peak intensity.

Before the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Rick, there was already a present threat from the storm. Just hours before the advisory that upgraded the depression, a tropical storm watch was issued from Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, to Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, which included Acapulco. Three hours before the cyclone was upgraded to a hurricane, these warning were updated to tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches. Shortly afterward, these were upgraded to hurricane warnings. When Rick reached its peak intensity on November 9, the hurricane warning was extended to Zihuatanejo and Huatulco. The warnings for areas west of Zihuatanejo as well as Lázaro Cárdenas were dropped at this time. The warnings for Acapulco and areas to the west, however, remained until three hours later, when they were dropped. Shortly after Rick made landfall on November 10, the final extension on the warnings were issued, putting Punta Maldonado to Tapachula under hurricane warnings and dropping them for all areas west of Punta Maldonado while Mexico's interior ministry declared an emergency along the coast of Oaxaca.^[5] Six hours later, the warnings were downgraded to tropical storm warnings. These warnings remained until 3 p.m. UTC, when the warnings were dropped after Rick was downgraded to a depression. ^[2]

The people in the coastal areas, most of which were already affected by the more catastrophic Pauline a month ago, were ready for Rick. All major ports along the coast were closed ahead of time in preparation, as well as airports in Huatulco and Puerto Escondido where power failures occurred.^[4] 130 Red Cross workers, including 20 that were based in Mexico, who were in the area in the aftermath of Pauline a month ago were kept in the area to handle the second hurricane.^[1] Many people from Puerto Ángel, Huatulco, and Puerto Escondido (where National Operations Director Bernardino Heredia was overseeing recovery efforts^[1]) beach areas were evacuated.^[6] During the Puerto Ángel evacuation, helicopters landed carrying soldier and rifles, which one tourist likened to a third-world revolution.^[1] In Chiapas, officials watched for flooding along the rivers and upstream river valleys, where the rains from three previous systems caused the ground to saturate and in the state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, families were evacuated due to rising rivers.^[7]

[edit] Impact

The damage from Rick was minor in comparison to Pauline. In Oaxaca, the hurricane was responsible for dumping 10 inches (250 mm) of rain onto the state, which in turn resulted in mudslides and flash floods in areas earlier ravaged by Pauline.^[8] These rains also resulted in the sea level rising three feet above normal levels due to high waves generated during its passage. The hurricane was also responsible for rendering bridges and roads unpassable in the state, which had only recently been repaired after they were damaged by two prior hurricanes: 1995's Hurricane Roxanne in the Atlantic ^[4] and Pauline, which weakened bridges a month prior, allowing Rick to topple them^[9], including a bridge near Puerto Escondido which left a 15-foot (4.6 m) deep gap in the road.^[6] Among the major roads that were cut off were a mountain road from Puerto Angel to Oaxaca City, a route used to link the coast with Mexico City, and a route from Puerto Escondido with Acapulco.^[6] A total of 10.47 inches (266 mm) of rainfall, the highest total caused by Rick, was recorded in Astata/San Pedro Huameluca, which was near the point where the hurricane made landfall.^[10] Telephone communications and traffic were cut off to many villages in the wake of the hurricane.

Although Rick was much weaker than Pauline, there were some areas where Rick's impact was greater than that of Pauline's, such as in the village of El Tomatal, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Puerto Escondido, where eight houses were destroyed and roofs were torn off of many others, which was attributed by residents to more rain than in Pauline, although the winds were roughly equal.^[7] Although there were no casualties, the hurricane caused more than 2000 people to become homeless.^[8] Most of what Pauline had left behind was destroyed by Rick, which one resident said was like "Pauline came to harvest the corn, and Rick came to harvest the peanuts."^[7]

In the United States, Rick had a temporary economic impact when, during its time off the shore of Chiapas and Oaxaca, it caused the price of coffee to rise 4.7 percent to $1.5685 per pound on the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York, the highest total it reached since October 16. Mexico is the United States's largest source of coffee imports and Oaxaca and Chiapas are the largest coffee growing regions in Mexico. Like the impact in El Tomatal, Rick's effects were much worse than Pauline's because Rick threatened the coffee crop when the beans were more susceptible to winds that could blow them off.^[11]

[edit] Records

Rick was one of only six known hurricanes to form in the East Pacific in November. The others were Nina in 1957, Ruby in 1972, Iwa in 1982, Nora in 1991, and Sergio in 2006.

As of 2007, Rick is the last named tropical system in the East Pacific to receive a male name beginning with the letter R.^[12] Because the damage associated with it was minor, the name Rick was not retired after this hurricane and was reinserted into the list for 2003, but due to inactivity, the name was not used. Its next use is slated to be in 2009.