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Hurricane Dennis - US &
Caribbean
Refinery Explosion - US
Earthquake - Indonesia
Drought, heat wave and wildfires
- Europe
Flood - India
Flood - China
Typhoon - Taiwan and China
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 7
February 18th to August 7th 2005 |
Hurricane Dennis - US and Caribbean
| Territory: |
|
US and Caribbean |
| Region: |
|
Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and US (Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) |
| Date: |
|
4 – 13, July 2005 |
| Event: |
|
Hurricane |
| Impact: |
|
In Haiti, 45 deaths were reported, with a further
16 lives lost in Cuba and 10 in the US. In Cuba, 120,000 houses
were reported damaged to some degree, and agriculture (especially
banana, citrus fruit, maize and poultry) was severely affected
due to the ferocious winds, torrential rain and widespread flooding.
In the southern US states, 680,000 customers were without power
at the height of the storm. Total economic losses are estimated
at between US$5 and 9 billion, with Cuban losses alone set at
US$1.4 billion, and US losses estimated at up to US$2 –
5 billion. Original estimates for US insured losses ranged from
US$1 – 5 billion, but insurers now expect around 126,000
claims totalling US$950 million, more than US$640 billion in
Florida. Lower than expected US insured losses are a reflection
of the compact nature of the storm and its rapid passage across
the coast. Offshore, the BP Thunderhorse production platform
was damaged and left listing by the storm, but is repairable
and will be on-stream by the year’s end. Insured losses
related to damage to offshore platforms are expected to be below
US$500 million. |
| Summary: |
|
Hurricane Dennis was the first hurricane of
the 2005 Atlantic season, and the earliest fourth named tropical
storm ever recorded. It was triggered by sea temperatures up
to 1 degree C above normal for the time of year, and its development
into the most powerful early-season hurricane on record (Note:
Hurricane Emily took this record from Dennis just nine days
later) was promoted by low wind shear. The storm formed in the
south-east Caribbean on July 4th and achieved hurricane status
on the 6th while approaching Hispaniola. By the 7th the storm
had been upgraded to category 4 as it passed between Haiti and
Jamaica. Dennis briefly strengthened to category 5 intensity,
with sustained wind speeds reaching 240 km per hour, before
making landfall as a category 4 storm in south-central Cuba
on July 8th. Dennis continued north across the Gulf of Mexico
and made US landfall on July 11th as a category 3 storm, between
Pensacola and Navarre Beach in the Florida panhandle, before
moving inland across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Sustained
winds at landfall were on the order of 195 km per hour, with
hurricane strength winds extending up to 70 km from the storm’s
centre. The storm finally dissipated on July 13th. |
| Data sources: |
|
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/h2005_dennis.html
ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm
NOAA
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2473.htm
|
| Additional sources:
|
|
Insurance Journal
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2005/07/26/57607.htm
Insurance Information Institute
http://www.disasterinformation.org/dennis.htm
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