| Formed: | August 13, 2007 |
| Low: | August 23, 2007 |
| Dissipated: | August 27, 2007 |
| Winds: | 150 |
| Pressure: | 905 |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Fatalities: | 45 (40 direct, 5 indirect) |
| Damage: | 1661000000 |
| Areas: | Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Gulf Coast of the United States, Southwestern United States |
Hurricane Dean was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that became the strongest of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It ties with Hurricane Mitch for the tenth most intense Atlantic hurricane by atmospheric pressure. Additionally, it made the fifth most intense landfall in the basin by central pressure. A Cape Verde hurricane that formed on August 13, 2007, Dean took a west-northwest path from the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lucia Channel and into the Caribbean Sea. It strengthened into a major hurricane, reaching Category 5 status on the Saffir–Simpson scale before passing just south of Jamaica on August 20. The storm made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula on August 21 at peak intensity. It crossed the peninsula and emerged into the Bay of Campeche weakened, but still remained a hurricane. It strengthened briefly before making a second landfall near Tecolutla in the Mexican state of Veracruz on August 22. Dean drifted to the northwest, weakening into a remnant low which dissipated uneventfully over the southwestern United States. Dean was the second-most intense tropical cyclone worldwide of 2007 in terms of pressure, only behind Cyclone George in the Australian region, and tied with Felix as the most intense worldwide in terms of 1-minute sustained winds.
The hurricane's intense winds, waves, rains and storm surge were responsible for at least 45 deaths across ten countries and caused estimated damages of US$1.66 billion. First impacting the islands of the Lesser Antilles, Dean's path through the Caribbean devastated agricultural crops, particularly those of Martinique and Jamaica. Upon reaching Mexico, Hurricane Dean was a Category 5 storm, but it missed major population centers and its exceptional Category 5 strength landfall caused no deaths and less damage than in the Caribbean islands it passed as a Category 2 storm.
Through the affected regions, clean up and repair took months to complete. Donations solicited by international aid organizations joined national funds in clearing roads, rebuilding houses, and replanting destroyed crops. In Jamaica, banana production did not return to pre-storm levels for over a year. Mexico's tourist industry took almost a year to rebuild its damaged cruise ship infrastructure.
Dean was the first hurricane to make landfall in the Atlantic basin at Category 5 intensity since Hurricane Andrew on August 24, 1992.[1] The hurricane's long swath of damage resulted in its name retirement from the World Meteorological Organization's Atlantic hurricane naming lists.
On August 11, 2007, a vigorous tropical wave moved off the west coast of Africa, producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms.[2] [3] It encountered conditions favorable for gradual development, and on August 12 it gained organization and became a low.[4] Strong upper-level easterly winds slowed development,[5] [6] but on August 13 the tropical wave gained enough organization that the National Hurricane Center designated it Tropical Depression Four. At this time it was centered about 520 mi (835 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde.[7] The depression was already exhibiting persistent deep convection in the western portion of its circulation.[8] It moved quickly westward, south of a deep layered ridge,[9] escaping the easterly wind shear that had been slowing its development and moving over warmer waters.[10] At 1500 UTC on August 14, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Dean[11] while still 1450 mi (2300 km) east of Barbados. Even as its convection waned slightly that afternoon, its intensity grew,[12] and convection flared in the center that night. Dry air and cooler air inflow from the north slowed structural development; nevertheless, ragged bands began to form on August 15.[13] By mid-morning, a rough banding eye had formed,[14] and by the next morning a full eye developed. The storm was upgraded to Hurricane Dean at 0900 UTC August 16,[15] 550 mi (890 km) east of Barbados.
A strong ridge of high pressure continued to push the system west, towards the Caribbean Sea.[16] That afternoon, convective banding and increasing upper-level outflow strengthened the storm to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale.[17] The eye disappeared briefly overnight, possibly as part of a diurnal fluctuation,[18] but returned by the morning of August 17.[19] At 0930 UTC on August 17, the center of Hurricane Dean passed into the Caribbean Sea through the Saint Lucia Channel between the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia. The northern eyewall passed over Martinique where a weather station in the island's capital of Fort-de-France reported 13 in (33 cm) of rainfall. By this time the eyewall had closed, forming a distinct eye,[20] and in an environment of low wind shear and increasing ocean temperature the hurricane began to intensify rapidly. Hurricane Dean strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane by the evening of August 17.[21] Satellite imagery showed that a well defined eye and numerous cyclonically curved convective bands remained over the Lesser Antilles.[22] That evening, another reconnaissance aircraft reached the hurricane and discovered that it had strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane,[23] and by 0600 UTC on August 18, Dean reached Category 5 intensity for the first time with 165 mph (270 km/h) winds.[24] The storm's wind radii increased in all quadrants as the storm grew in both intensity and size.[25] [26] At 0800 UTC August 18, Hurricane Dean passed directly over NOAA sea buoy 42059[25] which reported a significant wave height (average size of the largest 33% of waves) of 33 ft (10 m).[27] On August 18, Hurricane Dean developed a double eyewall, indicating that an eyewall replacement cycle was taking place and causing short term fluctuations in intensity as Dean weakened back to a Category 4 hurricane.[24] [28] [29] That afternoon the hurricane continued to improve its outflow, and its numerous spiral bands gave it a well defined satellite presentation.[30] Hurricane Dean finished the eyewall replacement cycle early on August 19 with some trochoidal wobbles.[31] [32]
On the morning of August 19, the storm remained slightly weakened from its peak strength. As a Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds between 140 mph (220 km/h) and 145 mph (230 km/h), the center of Hurricane Dean passed 90 mi (150 km) south of Haiti, and that evening passed 25 mi (40 km) south of Jamaica. Two weather stations on the island of Jamaica, one at Ingleside and the other at Morant Bay, both reported in excess of 13 in (33 cm) of rainfall.[24] In contrast, the weather station at Les Cayes, Haiti recorded only 1.18 in (3 cm) of rainfall.[33] Hurricane Dean intensified through the night of August 19[34] and reinforced its completed eyewall replacement cycle by forming a tight single-walled eye.[35] At 0100 UTC August 20, the storm passed 120 mi (190 km) to the south of Sea Buoy 42056, which recorded a significant wave height of 36 ft (11 m).[36] A concentric eyewall was briefly observed again on the morning of August 20, but it did not last long. In conditions of low wind shear, Hurricane Dean moved westward over waters with increasingly high heat content, and the storm exhibited a classic upper-tropospheric outflow pattern. The high pressure system over the southeastern United States continued to steer the storm west towards the Yucatán Peninsula.[37] The eyewall became even better defined throughout the day. The cloud tops cooled,[38] the minimum central pressure fell,[39] and its winds increased to 160 mph (260 km/h), making Hurricane Dean a Category 5 hurricane once again.[24] [40] This time, it was less than 210 mi (335 km) from its first landfall.[41]
Although many of the convective bands were already located over the Yucatán Peninsula, Hurricane Dean continued to intensify until the eye made landfall. As the eye moved over Mexico near the town of Majahual in the Costa Maya area, the NHC estimated surface level winds of 175 mph (280 km/h), making Dean the first storm to make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.[24] At the same time, a dropsonde reading from the hurricane's eye estimated a central pressure of 905 mbar, making Dean the fifth most intense landfalling Atlantic storm in history (after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille of 1969, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988, and Hurricane Melissa of 2025) and tying Dean with Mitch as the tenth most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin.[24] The landfall itself occurred in a sparsely populated area of the Costa Maya region of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo near 18.7 N 87.8 W at 0900 UTC August 21 and brought with it a storm surge of 12–18 ft (3.7–5.5 m).[42] A weather station at Chetumal (the capital of Quintana Roo, Mexico) reported 6.65 in (17 cm) of rainfall during Hurricane Dean's landfall.[24] As expected, the landfall caused significant weakening of the storm; the eye filled and the cold cloud-tops warmed.[43] The land severely disrupted the storm's organization, and by the time Dean crossed the Yucatán Peninsula it had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane.[44] Hurricane Dean emerged into the Bay of Campeche as a Category 1 hurricane on the afternoon of August 21. Its inner core was largely disrupted,[24] so although a ragged eye reformed over the warm waters of the bay,[45] the hurricane no longer had the structure to support its previous strength.[24] [46] Nevertheless, the warm waters of the bay proved conducive for some development and the eye contracted overnight, indicating that the hurricane was regaining structure. With better structure came stronger winds of 100 mph (160 km/h), and the storm was re-categorized as a Category 2 hurricane.[24] [47]
The storm's strengthening pattern continued until Hurricane Dean made its second and final landfall at 1630 UTC August 22 near Tecolutla, Veracruz, just east of Gutiérrez Zamora and about 40 mi (65 km) south-southeast of Tuxpan.[48] A weather station at Requetemu, San Luis Potosí, recorded 15.4 in (39 cm) of rainfall during the storm's second landfall.[24] Dean weakened rapidly, losing its low level circulation within hours and its mid-level circulation the next day as it encountered the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Its remnants passed over the mountains and into the eastern Pacific Ocean as a broad area of low pressure.[49] Hurricane Dean's remnant low pressure system then drifted north into southern California, bringing thunderstorms to northern San Diego County, and more than 2 in (5 cm) of rain to Lake Wohlford. In Escondido almost 2 in (5 cm) of rain fell in 90 minutes.[50] The remnant low pressure system weakened over western Arizona and southern California before finally dissipating on August 30.[51]
Hurricane Dean's smooth and well-predicted track gave unusually advance warning to all of the nations in its path and allowed them time to prepare for the storm's impact.[24] In anticipation of Dean's impact, the nations of Central America and the Caribbean opened shelters, readied emergency personnel, and evacuated residents from vulnerable areas.
The National Hurricane Center consistently predicted that the storm would intensify and pass through the islands.[52] [53] As Hurricane Dean approached, the island nations began to prepare with a flurry of activity. On August 14 the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) placed its Regional Response Mechanism on standby and contacted the National Disaster Coordinators of all member states in the Lesser Antilles.[54] On August 15 the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) dispatched teams to Barbados, Dominica, and St. Kitts in advance of the hurricane to provide damage assessment should the hurricane affect those islands.[55] At 11 p.m. AST August 15 (0300 UTC August 16) the respective governments of St. Lucia, Martinique, Saba, St. Eustatius, and Guadeloupe and its dependencies issued Hurricane watches and the government of the Netherlands Antilles issued a tropical storm watch for the island of St. Maarten,[56] as then-Tropical Storm Dean was expected to intensify to hurricane strength and reach the Windward Islands within 36 hours.[57] Authorities in Martinique canceled a memorial to the victims of West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 and began to set up shelters.[58]
At 5 a.m. AST (0900 UTC) August 16 the respective governments of St. Lucia and Dominica issued hurricane warnings in anticipation of Hurricane Dean's imminent approach. In Dominica, a dozen and a half tourists were evacuated to concrete shelters.[58] The government of Dominica also canceled leave for emergency service personnel and evacuated Princess Margret Hospital, fearing that its roof might be vulnerable to the storm's winds.[59] At the same time the Meteorological Service of Barbados issued a tropical storm warning for Barbados and a tropical storm watch for St. Vincent.[60] Three hours later, at 8 a.m. AST (1200 UTC), the Meteorological Service of Antigua issued a tropical storm watch for Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis and Barbuda.[61] Shortly thereafter the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service issued a tropical storm watch for Grenada and its dependencies.[62]
The Eastern Caribbean Donor Group convened a meeting on August 16 under the Chair of the Resident Representative United Nations Development Programme Barbados in anticipation of the hurricane causing significant damage and member states requiring international assistance.[54] At 11 a.m. AST (1500 UTC) the Barbados Meteorological Service issued tropical storm warnings for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Government of the Netherlands Antilles discontinued the hurricane watch on Saba and St. Eustatius, replacing it with a tropical storm warning.[63] At 5 p.m. AST (2100 UTC) August 16, roughly 15 hours before Hurricane Dean arrived,[20] the Government of France issued hurricane warnings for Martinique and Guadeloupe and its dependencies, and the NHC issued a tropical storm watch for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.[64] At 8 p.m. AST (2100 UTC) August 16 the Meteorological Service of Antigua issued a tropical storm warning for Anguilla.[65] Martinique's main airport and both of St. Lucia's commercial airports closed that night when the last airplanes landed as the storm's outer rainbands began to sweep over the island.[66] At 11 p.m. AST August 16 (0300 UTC August 17) the NHC upgraded the tropical storm watch on U.S. Virgin Islands to a tropical storm warning.[67] The next morning, August 17, the center of Hurricane Dean passed between St. Lucia and Martinique.[20] The Meteorological Service of Antigua issued a tropical storm warning for the British Virgin Islands that same morning,[68] and the Eastern Caribbean Donor Group convened a second meeting to finalize the coordination of three Rapid Assessment Teams.[54]
A tropical storm watch was issued for the south coast of the Dominican Republic on August 17 at 0300 UTC. Later that day the tropical storm watch was upgraded to a tropical storm warning. Additionally, a hurricane watch was issued from Cabo Beata to the Haitian border.[69] This was further upgraded that night with a hurricane warning from Barahona to the Haitian border.[70] Workers from World Vision, already on the island for unrelated humanitarian work, pre-positioned food, clean water, medicines and emergency generators in the southern provinces where hurricane warnings had been issued.[71] As the storm approached, 1,580 of the island's most vulnerable residents were evacuated to shelters.[72] A tropical storm watch was issued at 0900 UTC for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican border. This advisory was upgraded the next morning to a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch,[69] and that night was further upgraded to a hurricane warning.[73] The Haitian coastal authority advised all small craft to stay in port, while at Port-au-Prince, all flights to southern Haiti from Toussaint Louverture International Airport were canceled. More than 1,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas[72] and workers from World Vision again pre-positioned relief supplies.[71]
On August 17, when a hurricane watch was issued for Jamaica,[74] Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson-Miller convened an emergency meeting of Jamaica's national disaster preparedness council. Political parties in the island suspended their campaigning for the August 27 national elections to allow residents to prepare for the storm.[75] The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), which was already responding to Hurricane Dean's impact in the Lesser Antilles, contacted the Jamaican Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management to confirm technical and logistics support, and to notify the Jamaican government that utilities teams had been placed on standby should they be needed. The North-West Caribbean Donor Group also met to consider what action might it might undertake in Dean's aftermath.[76] On August 18 the hurricane watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning.[77] Curfews were put in place for parts of the island, while off-duty essential personnel were called back to work. The United States confirmed that it would offer aid if it was needed.[78] Only one member of a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team arrived in Jamaica before all incoming flights were canceled.[79] More than 1,000 schools and churches were converted to emergency shelters, but residents only occupied 47 of them before the storm's arrival. The country's high crime rate led islanders to fear for their belongings should they abandon their homes.[80] [81] UNICEF prepared 4 emergency health kits and 1,000 water containers and Copa Airlines agreed to fly the supplies to Jamaica on its scheduled August 22 flight, if possible. The World Food Program prepared food stock in nearby Haiti, ready to move them to Jamaica if they were needed,[79] although damage to their airport ultimately prevented their distribution.[82]
At 21:00 UTC August 16, 2007 a tropical storm watch was issued for Puerto Rico. At 0300 UTC August 17 this advisory was upgraded to a tropical storm warning.[67] The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, eager to make a good showing after its heavily criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, deployed a Federal Incident Response Support Team to the unincorporated territory of the United States ahead of Hurricane Dean. This five-member team of disaster management experts was equipped with satellite communication systems to provide video-teleconferencing and help make real-time assessments of any damage.[83] On August 17 a tropical storm watch was issued for Cuba between the provinces of Camagüey and Guantánamo.[74] This was upgraded on the afternoon of August 18 to a tropical storm warning.[84] At 0300 UTC August 19 a tropical storm watch was issued for portions of central Cuba: Ciego de Ávila, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, and Isla de la Juventud.[85] More than 350,000 people were evacuated by the Civil Defense in the coastal provinces,[72] [86] and the government in Havana suspended all tourist programs ahead of the storm.[78]
Forecasters and computer models at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center predicted that Hurricane Dean would impact the Yucatán Peninsula a full 6 days before the storm actually arrived.[24] [87] The hurricane's stable and well predicted path gave all of the countries in the region ample time to prepare for its arrival.[24] On August 17, at the request of the Quintana Roo state government, which was expecting their state to suffer a direct hit, the Civil Protection Office of Mexico's federal Interior Ministry declared a state of emergency for the entire state. This included the towns and cities of Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Chetumal as well as the islands of Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Holbox.
On August 18 authorities began evacuating people from parts of Quintana Roo, moving 2,500 people from Holbox Island[88] and a further 80,000 tourists from elsewhere in the state.[89] Air-evacuations of tourists were stopped[90] when Dean's outer rainbands closed almost a dozen[91] Cancún and Cozumel airports on the evening of August 20. The Campeche airport closed shortly thereafter.[92] The state government set up 530 storm shelters in schools and other public buildings, prepared to hold 73,000 people.[93] With 20,000 food packages ready, the state of Yucatán, Quintana Roo's neighbor to the northwest, declared a green alert indicating a low but significant level of danger.[94] [95] World Vision and other international aid agencies prepared blankets, sheets, personal hygiene items and medicines for quick transport to affected areas.[96] The United States pre-positioned a three-person disastermanagement team into the Yucatán before the storm's arrival with the intent of helping coordinate disaster management if necessary.[97] The U.S. State Department urged its citizens in Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche to prepare for the storm and to evacuate if necessary. The department also relocated its non-essential personnel from those states to Mexico City.[95] At 1500 UTC on August 19 a hurricane watch was issued on the Yucatán Peninsula from Chetumal to San Felipe and final preparations were rushed to completion.[98]
On August 20, warnings for Dean's second landfall were issued. The coast from Progreso to Ciudad del Carmen was put under a hurricane warning and the coast from Cancún at the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula west to Progreso. At 0300 UCT, August 21, a tropical storm watch was issued for the coast from Chilitepec to Veracruz, and a hurricane watch was issued from Chilitepec to Tampico, Tamaulipas. As Dean began to cross the Yucatán Peninsula and maintained its structure better than forecasters had expected, these watches and warnings were expanded. At their peak, a hurricane warning covered the area from Campeche, Campeche, to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, and a tropical storm warning stretched from Tampico to La Cruz, Tamaulipas.[24] Residents in Veracruz stocked up on essential supplies, especially food and water, ahead of the storm's second landfall.[99] At the request of the government of Veracruz, federal Secretary of the Interior Francisco Ramírez Acuña declared a state of emergency for 81 municipalities ahead of Hurricane Dean's expected landfall in the state. This gave local authorities access to the resources of the Revolving Fund of the National Natural Disaster Fund to take care of the nutrition, health, and shelter their populations should the storm's damage require it.[100] Although Dean was still a hurricane and was expected to re-strengthen slightly before making its second landfall, the fact that it had weakened caused some residents to let down their guard.[101] As a result, residents of Veracruz and Campeche were much less prepared for the storm than those on the Yucatán Peninsula.[24]
A hurricane warning was issued for the coastal locations north of Belize City with the forecast of 150 mph (240 km/h) winds.[102] The government instituted a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Belize City to the Mexican border. On August 16 and 17, Prime Minister Said Musa chaired two meetings of Belize's National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO).[93] He instructed the newly created Coastguard to evacuate popular tourist sites Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye by boat and plane.[103] [104] Authorities also evacuated Belize City's three hospitals, moving high-risk patients inland to the capital Belmopan. The mayor urged residents to leave Belize City and to make use of shelters in the capital.[103]
The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team dispatched two members to Belize City and the rest of the team traveled to Belmopan.[86] Government supplies were stored in Orange Walk, Corozal ready for post-storm relief.[86] [93] Essential equipment from the Red Cross and the Pan American Health Organization was stored in the elevated UNICEF building and the Belize City UN building was converted to a crisis center.[86]
Oil futures spiked on August 15 as analysts considered the impact of Hurricane Dean on refining capacity if it were to move into the Caribbean as predicted.[105] [106] Transocean evacuated 11 nonessential workers late on August 15 from an oil rig located about 160 mi (260 km) southeast of New Orleans. The company left about 125 personnel on board the structure.[107] A day later Royal Dutch Shell evacuated 275 ancillary staff, following an evacuation of 188 due to Tropical Storm Erin.
On August 18, 2007, 10300oilbbl of oil and 11 million cubic feet (310,000 m3) of natural gas were shut-in per day, accounting for 0.8% of crude production in the Gulf of Mexico. By 11:30 am CST (1630 UTC), two rigs and one platform evacuated personnel.[108]
Pemex, the state-owned Mexican oil company, made preparations to shut down oil production on August 19 ahead of Dean.[78] It evacuated 13,360 workers from more than 140 oil platforms, using 55 boats and 29 helicopters.[72] As the storm continued to intensify, the number of evacuated Pemex workers increased to 18,000 on August 20, and all 407 wells and drilling operations were abandoned. This reduced the worldwide production of oil and natural gas by 2.65Moilbbl and 2.6e9cuft per day, respectively.
Throughout the Caribbean Sea, about a dozen cruise ships altered their routes to avoid Hurricane Dean.[109] Honduras was put on a state of preventative alert for 48 hours, particularly the departments to the north of the country; the Bay Islands were on a state of red alert. There were places ready to accommodate 10,000 people for 15 days if necessary.[110]
In the United States, the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness activated its Crisis Action Team on August 16 to monitor the storm and coordinate preparation.[83] Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency early on the evening of August 17,[111] asking for a presidential emergency declaration to give Louisiana access to federal funds prior to any landfall.[83] Texas Governor Rick Perry declared Dean to be an imminent threat to the state, and initiated a full-scale hurricane preparedness effort on August 17 when the storm was at least five days away.[112] Prior to the storm, Texas suffered severe flooding from several June–July storms, and Tropical Storm Erin left the ground still saturated. Governor Perry feared that more rainfall from Dean would cause additional flash flooding,[113] and had 250 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department crews on standby with boats to assist in potential evacuations. He was willing to deploy up to 10,000 Texas Military Forces soldiers, and did deploy several elements of the Texas State Guard who set up emergency shelters.[83] The Texas fuel industry began surging fuel loads to coastal counties to ensure adequate fuel in the event of the hurricane causing a disruption to the fuel distribution system.[83] In anticipation of evacuations, the Texas Department of Transportation began working on extra evacuation lanes and contraflow.[83] NASA cut short the STS-118 mission as a precaution, in case Dean approached Mission Control at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.[114] To that effect, mission managers cut the mission's final spacewalk short by two hours,[115] allowing them to land a day earlier than originally planned.[116]
| Country | Total deaths | Direct deaths | Damage (USD) | Source | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | [117] | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | [118] | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | [119] | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | 14 | Unknown | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Martinique | 3 | 0 | |||||||
| Mexico | 13 | 12 | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | None | [120] | ||||||
| None | None | [121] | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| US Virgin Islands | None | None | |||||||
| Totals: | |||||||||
| Because of differing sources, totals may not match. | |||||||||
Power outages began in some neighborhoods at 6:30 p.m. AST (2230 UTC) August 16, over 12 hours before the storm arrived, and quickly spread over the entire island. The night saw heavy rains, 4cm (02inches) at Hewanorra International Airport,[122] [123] and intense thunderstorms and by morning hurricane-force winds peaked at 80kn.[124] The winds uprooted trees,[125] downed electricity poles, disabled bridges, triggered landslides, and damaged several roofs. Hurricane Dean tore the corrugated metal roof off Victoria Hospital's pediatric ward, but its patients had already been evacuated.[126] St. Jude Hospital in Vieux Fort was also damaged when part of the roof blew off its medical ward and fell through the roof of the emergency room. A section of the cafeteria also lost its roof, but no one was injured in either incident.[59]
The capital, Castries, was flooded by the storm surge and high seas deposited boulders and fishing boats on the streets. One person drowned in Sarrot after being swept away by a rain-swollen river while trying to recover a cow.[127] [128] Flooding was also reported in the town of Dennery where a number of residents had to be evacuated.[124] Nationwide, damage to housing and buildings totaled EC$800,000.[129] In the worst hit areas of the north, closest to Hurricane Dean's path, at least 15 roofs were blown off. Two small waterfront houses were completely destroyed in the town of Gros Islet. The heavy seas also sunk or damaged several boats[130] and damaged coastal roads, in some places eroding the land itself.[131] Coastal damage was estimated at $700,000.[129]
Although the Ministry of Education reported that eleven schools had sustained a combined total of $300,000 of damage,[129] the Ministry of Communications, Works, Transport, and Public Utilities reported that most of the country's other major infrastructure remained functional.[130] They estimated that the cost to clean up all of the roads and drains was $900,000 and the cost to repair the utilities and communications damage was another $505,000. Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority reported another $922,000 of damage, but none of these sectors experienced prolonged disruptions to their functionality.[129]
The island's 5000acres of banana farms in Mabouya Valley, Roseau Valley, and Marc Marc were severely damaged with many of the plantations waterlogged or outright destroyed.[124] [132] An average of 75% of the crops were lost, with some fields in the Northern Farms losing up to 80% and in the Roseau Valley losing up to 85%. The cost to the agriculture industry was $13.2 million, bringing Hurricane Dean's total cost to $17.3 million (US$6.4 million in 2007) or 0.5% of the nation's GDP.[129] [133] [134]
Martinique experienced 160 km/h winds with gusts to 215 km/h.[20] The torrential rainfall, which reached 332mm caused flooding throughout the island, with the town of Rivière-Pilote flooding completely. The majority of Martinique's population were left without electricity, water, telephone, or food.[135] [136] The storm destroyed Martinique's entire banana crop, and 70% of the island's sugar cane plantations.[137]
Three people were killed, many more were injured, and 600 Martiniquans were left homeless. The banana fields were completely destroyed. Officials estimated the damage on the island at about €250 million (US$337 million).[138]
In Dominica, a mother and her seven-year-old son died when one of a dozen landslide caused by the heavy rains fell onto their house.[139] Landslides also blocked several roads in the mountainous country. In another incident two people were injured when a tree fell on their house.[132]
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit initially estimated that 100 to 125 homes were damaged,[140] but in actuality Hurricane Dean damaged many more: 183 houses lost their roofs completely, 205 houses sustained partial damage to their roofs, 43 houses were completely destroyed, 115 houses suffered significant structural damage to components other than their roofs, and 225 non-dwelling buildings were damaged. In total, 771 buildings suffered significant damage.[129] [141]
Princes Margret Hospital, the island's only hospital, suffered damage to the roofs of the psychiatric and intensive care units. This led to heavy water damage, which also spread into the maternity ward and damaged the electrical system. All of the patients had been evacuated before the storm arrived. Because most equipment and supplies had also been removed, the hurricane's cost to the health sector was limited to the EC$3 million of structural damage.
The storm surge caused EC$15.5 million of damage to sea walls and another EC$15 million of damage to coastal bridges. Floods and landslides contributed EC$17.6 million of damage to the island's road network, while river floods destroyed EC$45.5 million of river walls. Flooding also devastated the agriculture sector and 95% of the crops were lost.[129] Replanting a rehabilitation of the banana trees, 99% of which were destroyed, was expected to take several years.
Overall damage from Dean is fairly minor in Guadeloupe. However, the south of Basse-Terre Island suffered moderate damage and sustained wind gust up were between 74and in areas such as Marie Galante and Les Saintes, in the Southern section of the island and destroyed 80% and cost €150 million (US$220 million) in Guadeloupe [138] of the banana crop.[142] The country's main exports.[143]
Although the winds and rain of the hurricane did not reach as far south as the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, sea swells on the east coast killed two people as they tried to secure a boat.[135]
Hurricane Dean passed just south of the Greater Antilles from August 17 to August 21. Having entered the Caribbean Sea as a Category 2 storm, it quickly strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane near Puerto Rico before weakening slightly to Category 4 strength as it swept under the rest of the Greater Antilles.[24] It never made landfall in the island chain,[144] but at Category 4 strength the storm passed just 40km (30miles) south of Jamaica. Strengthening again as it passed the islands, Dean regained Category 5 strength off the eastern tip of Cuba before making landfall in Mexico.[145] The storm's winds, rains, and storm surge endangered life and property throughout the island chain.[24]
