Hurricane Stan

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Hurricane Stan
Hurricane Stan

Hurricane Stan
Duration Oct. 1 - 5, 2005
Highest winds 80 mph (130 km/h) sustained
Damages Not available
Fatalities 1,153 (official) - 2,500 direct
Areas affected Guatemala, El Salvador, southern and eastern Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica
Part of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Stan was the eighteenth named tropical storm and tenth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was only the second 'S' named storm since naming began, the other being Sebastien of 1995. It was a relatively weak storm that, while only being a Category 1 hurricane for a short period of time, caused severe flooding and mudslides in the Central American countries of Guatemala and El Salvador and in southern Mexico and has led to at least 1,153 deaths, a similar number to Hurricane Katrina, with many more reported missing and feared dead. The official death toll is expected to rise, possibly well over 2,000. The final death toll will likely never be known due to the extensive decomposition of bodies in the mud. A large portion of that figure comes from one village alone, as a mudslide completely destroyed the village of Panabaj in Guatemala's Sololá department. Stan has been compared to Hurricane Mitch of 1998, Hurricane Cesar-Douglas of 1996 and Hurricane Diana of 1990 even while being described in Central American countries as a tropical storm, as that is what it was when it hit these territories.

Contents

Storm history

A tropical wave, which moved off the African coast on September 17, formed a low pressure area when it reached the western Caribbean Sea and organized into a tropical depression on October 1. Off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Stan at 1:35 am CDT (0635 UTC) October 2.

Rainfall from Hurricane Stan; September 29 – October 5
Enlarge
Rainfall from Hurricane Stan; September 29October 5

Stan made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula and weakened to a tropical depression, but regained tropical storm strength upon reemerging into the Bay of Campeche. By 4 am CDT October 4 (0900 UTC), it had sufficiently strengthened to be given hurricane status. Stan made landfall later that morning in the east-central coast of Mexico, south of Veracruz, as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, then weakened to a tropical storm early that afternoon.

Hurricane Stan's ability to create havoc in the mountainous regions of southern Mexico and Central America due to landslides and flooding meant that the U.S. National Hurricane Center did not stop issuing advisories on it until October 5 at 0900 UTC.

The storm produced landslides, flooding, and high winds throughout its path through southern and eastern Mexico and Central America, as upwards of 20 inches (500 mm) of rain has been reported which has led to the destruction. Most of the destructive floods have been as a result of the outer bands of Stan, as well as when it was still a tropical depression.

The coffee harvest was just about to get underway in the region and some of this and many other crops have been lost as a result of the flooding.

Effects

Guatemala

On October 11 at least 1,036 people were confirmed to have died, and up to 3000 were believed missing. Many communities were overwhelmed, and the worst single incident appears to have occurred in Panabaj, an impoverished Mayan village in the highlands near Lake Atitlán in Sololá department. The authorities have decided to leave these villages as graveyards. The hamlet Piedra Grande, a hamlet in the municipality of San Pedro Sacatepéquez was also destroyed. Floods and mudslides have obliterated the community of about 1,400 people, and it is feared that most or all of the population of the community lost their lives. The government have stated that they do not know what is going on in the south west of the country, and particularly the San Marcos department because a vital bridge was destroyed at El Palmar, Quetzaltenango, cutting the region off from the rest of the country. There are reported petrol shortages, including in Quetzaltenango.

El Salvador

The eruption of the Santa Ana volcano, located near the capital San Salvador, on October 1 compounded the problems, which led to even more destructive floods and mudslides from Stan.

A state of emergency has been declared. According to the director of El Salvador's National Emergency Centre, 300 communities were affected by the floods, with over 54,000 people forced to flee their homes. A state of emergency has also been called for in Guatemala by President Óscar Berger where 24,000 people were reported in emergency shelters. Some looting has also been reported; a scene reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina five weeks previous. A spokesman for the Salvadoran Red Cross said that "the emergency is bigger than the rescue capacity, we have floods everywhere, bridges about to collapse, landslides and dozens of roads blocked by mudslides". The Pan-American Highway has been cut off by mudslides leading into the capital, San Salvador, as well as several other roads. 72 deaths have been confirmed in El Salvador.

Mexico

Some 100,000 inhabitants of the Sierra de los Tuxtlas region on the Gulf Coast were evacuated from their homes, and incidents of mild flooding as well as wind damage (such as uprooted trees and roofs ripped off houses) were reported from coastal areas of Veracruz, including the port of Veracruz, Boca del Río, San Andrés Tuxtla, Santiago Tuxtla, Minatitlán and Coatzacoalcos, as well as state capital Xalapa, further inland. The armed forces evacuated the inhabitants of a dozen or so towns on the coastal plain, between World Heritage Site Tlacotalpan in the west and the lakeside resort of Catemaco in the east.

As the system progressed inland towards the Sierra Madre del Sur to the west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas were affected with torrential rains. Areas of Chiapas near the Guatemalan border were hit hard, particularly the coastal border town of Tapachula, where the river overflowed its banks and caused tremendous damage, including the destruction of all the bridges leading in and out of the town, meaning that it was only accessible through the air. The state government reports that 33 rivers have broken their banks and that an inderminate number of homes, upwards of 20 bridges, and other infrastructure have been smashed in the storm's wake.

Some areas in the Sierra Norte, in the central state of Puebla, are also flooded. Three people died in a mudslide at Xochiapulco Hill.

In addition, Pemex had evacuated 270 employees from its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, although no damage has been reported and the plants have been restarted.

The Ministry of the Interior has declared states of emergency in the worst hit municipalities of five states: Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz.

Honduras

There have been 7 deaths in Honduras, 3 in Lempira department, 2 in Francisco Morazán department, 1 in Santa Bárbara department and 1 in Comayagua department. 7042 people have had to be evacuated and 2475 homes have been destroyed, with the town of Nacaome being particularly affected because the River Nacaome broke its banks.

Death toll (summary)

Country Total Region State
total
Costa Rica 2
El Salvador 72
Guatemala 1,036
Honduras 7
Mexico 28 Chiapas 15
Oaxaca 3
Puebla 3
Veracruz 6
Unknown 1
Nicaragua 11
Totals 1,153+
Because of differing sources, totals may not match.

As of October 11, 2005, the official death toll from Stan now stands at 1,153. [1] Hundreds more have been reported missing and are feared dead throughout the region. One estimate has the death toll above 2,000 in Guatemala alone, which would place Stan's death toll above even Hurricane Katrina's confirmed death toll (which is currently around 1,300) and make it (so far) the deadliest tropical system of the 2005 Atlantic season.

Most of the reported fatalities at this point have been as a result of the flooding and mudslides, although eight of the deaths in Nicaragua were as a result of a boat carrying migrants from Ecuador and Peru that ran ashore.

See also

External links



Tropical cyclones of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season
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