HURRICANE GILBERT
A hurricane is a violent tropical storm. It has a minium wind speed of 72 miles per hour. going counter-clockwise around a region of low-pressure. Hurricanes are giant whirlwinds which air moves in a large spiral around the center of the low-pressure which is called the eye. Hurricane season is usually from June1 to November 30. Ten tropical storms on the average develop in the Gulf Of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Only six of these storms on the average become hurricanes.
Hurricane Gilbert was called "the 5 day fury". The hurricane attacked many of the islands in the Carribean and Atlantic Oceans. It didn't directly hit some islands but it did have some efftect on them. It started with St Lucia. In St. Lucia most of there crops were destroyed. They had a reported $740,000 loss in banana. At this point the hurricane was still a storm. It then hit Puerto Rico. They also reported crop damages but only $200,000. They also had power outages in some towns. The storm then hit British and U.S. Virgin Islands. They had many power outages and flooding. Britsih Vigin Islands only reported some crop damage. Both returned to normal by tuesday. The storm then hit the Dominican Republic. Here the storm starts to become a bitter stronger almost to a hurricane. In the Dominican Republic five people were reported dead and over hundred families were left homeless. The storm now heads for Haiti. In Haiti ten people are dead and there is now a state of emergency across the southern peninsula. It works its way now to Jamaica. Jamaica was definetly hit the hardest because at this point it is now a full hurricane. There was reported twenty-six people dead and massive damage done to homes and buildings. There was an estimated 500,000 people left homeless and $8 billion in damage. The hurricane then headed for the Cayman Islands where they had major flooding and lots of trees down. The Hurricane finally was making it to its last place which was Mexico. In Mexico there was reported six people dead and more than 50,000 people evacuated. Many airports were closed and roads were blocked. The hurricane was reported to hit Texas who had a hurricane watch but they didn't receive the direct hit either. What they saw were tornadoes spun off by Hurricane Gilbert.