 Download
Cat Report
(56kb pdf)
Cover Page
Hurricane Charley - US & Caribbean
Hurricane Frances - US & Caribbean
Hurricane Ivan - US &
Caribbean
Hurricane Jeanne - US & Caribbean
Typhoons - Japan
Earthquake - Japan
Earthquake & tsunami - Indian
Ocean
Other events
|
Catastrophe Report 6
July 21, 2004 - February 18, 2005 |
Hurricane Ivan- US and Caribbean
| Territory: |
|
US and Caribbean |
| Region: |
|
Grenada, Cayman Isles, Cuba, US (Alabama
and Florida) |
| Date: |
|
2 – 24 September, 2004 |
| Event: |
|
Hurricane |
| Impact: |
|
Hurricane Ivan’s impacts were particularly
widespread, with 11 countries being affected; Barbados, the
Dominican Republic, Grenada, the Cayman Isles, Haiti, Jamaica,
Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Cuba and the US. Of these, worst hit were Granada,
Jamaica, Cuba and the US. In Grenada, 9 out of 10 homes were
destroyed, half the island’s 110,000 population were left
homeless, and the economy was left in ruins. Economic losses
are in excess of US$100 million. In Jamaica, 5,000 homes and
340 schools were destroyed or damaged and crops sustained serious
damage. In Cuba, 650 houses and 250 schools were damaged and
eight schools destroyed. Nearly 14,000 tonnes of bananas and
citrus fruits were damaged or destroyed. Ivan brought the worst
weather in 25 years to coastal Alabama, and cut power to 1.1
million homes in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Extensive
building damage resulted from winds gusting as high as 230 kph,
with a 3 m storm surge and more than 33 cm of rain leading to
widespread coastal and inland flooding. In total, Ivan triggered
economic losses of US$20 billion, with insured losses estimated
at US$11.7 billion. Insured losses for the US are set at US$6
billion. The death toll is estimated at 125. |
| Summary: |
|
Hurricane Ivan was the most energetic Atlantic
storm since reliable records began, and it also holds the record
for the longest duration at category 4 intensity. This is attributed
to its track through the deep tropics during conditions of very
favourable sea surface temperature and low vertical wind shear.
The storm was also the sixth strongest recorded in the Atlantic
Basin. Ivan became a tropical storm on 3 September, reached
hurricane strength two days later and developed into a major
(category 3) storm the same day. The hurricane tracked westwards
across the southern Windward Islands as a category 4 storm,
causing major damage and loss of life, and continued on past
northern Venezuela and the Netherlands Antilles. Heading towards
Jamaica on 9 September, Ivan reached category 5 status, but
weakened to 4 as it skirted the south of the island. On 11 September,
the storm again strengthened to category 5, before inflicting
major damage to Grand Cayman. Ivan passed western Cuba and turned
towards the US Gulf Coast, making landfall as a category 3 storm
near Gulf Shores, Alabama. After crossing the SE states, Ivan
headed back across southern Florida and back into the Gulf of
Mexico, where it made a final landfall in Louisiana as a tropical
storm on 24 September. |
| Data sources: |
|
NOAA National Weather Service Office, Mobile/Pensacola
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mob/ivan_page/Ivan-main.htm
ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?openForm
|
| Additional sources:
|
|
Tropical Storm Risk
http://forecast.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/docs/TSRATL2004Verification.pdf
National Hurricane Centre
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
|
| |
|
|
|
|
