Hurricane David
Hurricane David was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck Dominica and the Dominican Republic in August 1979, causing widespread destruction and numerous fatalities. It remains the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the Dominican Republic’s recorded history. A long-lived Cape Verde hurricane, David was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season. David formed on August 25, in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean near Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa. Two days later, the storm reached hurricane strength, then underwent rapid intensification, strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane and reaching peak sustained winds of on August 28. By the time the system dissipated on September 8, it had traversed the Leeward Islands, Greater Antilles, The Bahamas, the East Coast of the United States, and Atlantic Canada.
David was the first hurricane to affect the Lesser Antilles since Hurricane Inez in 1966 and the deadliest to hit Dominica since the 1834 Padre Ruíz hurricane, which killed over 200 people. There, strong winds from David damaged or destroyed 80% of homes, leaving 75% of the island's population homeless. Agriculture was also severely impacted, with 75% of crops ruined, including a complete loss of bananas. David killed 56 people and injured 180 others on Dominica. In addition, similar destruction occurred on Guadeloupe and Martinique, with hundreds left homeless and extensive damage to crops. Guadeloupe and Martinique also had $50 million and $100 million in damage, respectively. In Puerto Rico, flooding and high winds combined resulted in $70 million in damage and seven fatalities, four from electrocution. With winds of, David was one of only two storms of Category 5 intensity to strike the Dominican Republic in the 20th century, the other also being Inez, and the deadliest since the 1930 San Zenón hurricane, killing over 2,000 people in its path. Entire villages were destroyed and numerous others were left isolated because of damage or destruction to many roads. Thousands of houses were destroyed, leaving over 200,000 homeless in the aftermath of the hurricane. Additionally, nearly 70% of the country's crops were ruined.
Minimal impact occurred in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. In Florida, strong winds left moderate damage, including a downed radio tower, snapping a crane, and deroofing buildings. There were also 10 tornadoes. Damage totaled approximately $95 million. Other states along the East Coast of the United States experienced flooding and tornadoes. The latter was particularly severe in Virginia, with tornadoes causing one death, damaging 270 homes, and destroying three other homes. Throughout the United States, there were 15 deaths and about $320 million in damage.
Meteorological history
On August 25, the US National Hurricane Center reported that a tropical depression had developed within an area of disturbed weather, which was located about to the southeast of the Cape Verde Islands. During that day the depression gradually developed further as it moved westwards, under the influence of the subtropical ridge of high pressure that was located to the north of the system before during the next day the NHC reported that the system had become a tropical storm and named it David. Becoming a hurricane on August 27, it moved west-northwestward before entering a period of rapid intensification which brought it to an intensity of on August 28. Slight fluctuations in intensity occurred before the hurricane ravaged the tiny windward Island of Dominica on the following day. David continued west-northwest, and intensified into a Category 5 hurricane in the northeast Caribbean Sea, reaching peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of and minimum central pressure of on August 30. An upper-level trough pulled David northward into Hispaniola as a Category 5 hurricane on the August 31. The eye passed almost directly over Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. David crossed over the island and emerged as a weak hurricane after drenching the islands.After crossing the Windward Passage, David struck eastern Cuba as a minimal hurricane on September 1. It weakened to a tropical storm over land, but quickly re-strengthened as it again reached open waters. David turned to the northwest along the western periphery of the subtropical ridge, and re-intensified to a Category 2 hurricane while over the Bahamas, where it caused heavy damage. Despite initial forecasts of a projected landfall in Miami, Florida, the hurricane turned to the north-northwest just before landfall to strike near West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 3. It paralleled the Florida coastline just inland until emerging into the western Atlantic Ocean at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, later on September 3. David continued to the north-northwest, and made its final landfall just south of Savannah, Georgia, as a minimal hurricane with winds on September 5. It turned to the northeast while weakening over land, and became extratropical on September 6 over New York. As an extratropical storm, David continued to the northeast over New England and the Canadian Maritimes. David intensified once more as it crossed the far north Atlantic, clipping northwestern Iceland before moving eastward well north of the Faroe Islands on September 10.
Preparations
In the days prior to hitting Dominica, David was originally expected to hit Barbados and spare Dominica in the process. However, on August 29, a turn in the hours before moving through the area caused the hurricane to make a direct hit on the southern part of Dominica. Even as it became increasingly clear that David was headed for the island, residents did not appear to take the situation seriously. This can be partly attributed to the fact that local radio warnings were minimal and disaster preparedness schemes were essentially non-existent. Furthermore, Dominica had not experienced a major hurricane since 1930, thus leading to complacency among much of the population. This proved to have disastrous consequences for the island nation.Some 400,000 people evacuated in the United States in anticipation of David, including 300,000 people in southeastern Florida due to a predicted landfall between the Florida Keys and Palm Beach. Of those, 78,000 fled to shelters, while others either stayed at a friend's house further inland or traveled northward. Making landfall during Labor Day weekend, David forced the cancellations of many activities in the greater Miami area. After Labor Day, schools were closed in several counties on September 4: Baker, Brevard, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Hendry, Indian River, Martin, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, and Volusia.
Impact
David is believed to have been responsible for 2,078 deaths, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes of the modern era. It caused torrential damage across its path, most of which occurred in the Dominican Republic where the hurricane made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane.Lesser Antilles
Aside from Dominica, other islands in the Lesser Antilles experienced minor to moderate damage. Just to the south of Dominica, David brought Martinique winds of up to sustained gust in the northeast of the coast of the Caravelle. The capital, Fort-de-France, reported wave heights of and experienced strong tropical storm sustained winds at and gust at. David's strong winds caused severe crop damage, mostly to bananas, amounting to $50 million in losses. Though no deaths were reported, the hurricane caused 20 to 30 injuries and left 500 homeless.Guadeloupe experienced moderate to extensive damage on Basse-Terre Island. There, the banana crop was completely destroyed, and combined with other losses, crop damage amounted to $100 million. David caused no deaths, a few injuries, and left several hundred homeless. Nearby, Marie-Galante and Les Saintes reported some extreme damage while Grande-Terre had some moderate damages.
The island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands experienced significant rainfall amounting to, but fairly minor flooding.
Dominica
During the storm's onslaught, David dropped up to of rain, causing numerous landslides on the mountainous island. Hours of hurricane-force winds severely eroded the coastlines and washed out coastal roads.Damage was greatest in the southwest portion of the island, especially in the capital city, Roseau, which resembled an air raid target after the storm's passage. Strong winds from Hurricane David destroyed or damaged 80 percent of the homes on the island, leaving 75 percent of the population homeless, with many others temporarily homeless in the immediate aftermath. In addition, the rainfall turned rivers into torrents, sweeping away everything in their path to the sea. Power lines were completely ripped out, causing the water system to stop as well.
Most severely damaged was the agricultural industry. The worst loss in agriculture was from bananas and coconuts, of which about 75 percent of the crop was destroyed. Banana fields were completely destroyed, and in the southern portion of the island most coconut trees were blown down. Citrus trees fared better, due to the small yet sturdy nature of the trees. In addition, David's winds uprooted many trees on the tops of mountains, leaving them bare and damaging the ecosystem by disrupting the water levels.
In all, 56 people died in Dominica and 180 were injured. Property and agricultural damage figures in Dominica are unknown. David was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the island of Dominica since the 1834 Padre Ruíz hurricane, which killed over 200 people.
Puerto Rico
Though it did not hit Puerto Rico, Hurricane David passed less than south of the island, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the island. Portions of southwestern Puerto Rico experienced sustained winds of up to, while the rest of the island received tropical storm-force winds. While passing by the island, the hurricane caused strong seas and torrential rainfall, amounting to in Mayagüez and up to in the central mountainous region.Despite remaining offshore, most of the island felt David's effects. Agricultural damage was severe, and combined with property damage, the hurricane was responsible for $70 million in losses. Following the storm, FEMA declared the island a disaster area. In all, Hurricane David killed seven people in Puerto Rico, four of which resulted from electrocutions.