Hurricane Marilyn

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Hurricane Marilyn

Category 3 hurricane (SSHS)

Hurricane Marilyn on 16 September 1995 at 0315 UTC

Formed

September 12, 1995

Dissipated

September 22, 1995

Highest
winds

115 mph (185 km/h) (1-minute sustained)

Lowest pressure

949 mbar (hPa)^[1]

Damage

$2 billion (2005 dollars)
$2.6 billion (2006 USD)

Fatalities

8 direct

Areas
affected

Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico

Part of the
1995 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Marilyn was the thirteenth named storm of the unusually busy 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, following closely on the heels of Hurricane Luis. Hurricane Marilyn was the worst storm to hit the Virgin Islands since Hurricane Hugo of 1989.

1 Storm history
2 Impact
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Storm history

Storm path

Hurricane Marilyn developed off of South America and headed northwest through the Lesser Antilles. Marilyn intensified quickly, becoming a tropical storm on September 13 and a hurricane on September 14 north of Barbados.

Marilyn was reported to be a strong Category 2 hurricane when the hurricane passed over the island of St. Thomas and the rest of the United States Virgin Islands. Marilyn then passed Culebra and eastern Puerto Rico and became a Category 3 hurricane before being ripped apart by shear and losing much of its strength. Marilyn then tracked due north and out into the open Atlantic.

A Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance flight reported hail, which is unusual for tropical cyclones. After heading north past Bermuda, Marilyn weakened and became extratropical on September 22.

[edit] Impact

+Storm deaths by region
Region	Direct deaths
St. Thomas	5
St. Croix	1
St. John	1
Puerto Rico	1
Total	8^[1]

Marilyn caused tremendous damage and 8 deaths throughout the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

[edit] U.S. Virgin Islands

Newspaper headline showing the damage from Hurricane Marilyn

Marilyn was directly responsible for seven deaths, most due to drowning on boats or offshore. Ten thousand people were left homeless on St. Thomas, and most buildings sustained some damage.

The island of St. Thomas was the hardest hit by the storm, where about 80% of the homes and businesses were destroyed, including the hospital and the water desalination plant; five people were killed.^[1] Storm surge in the Charlotte Amalie harbor beached the USCGC Point Ledge and damaged many smaller boats.^[2] Elsewhere in the territory, there was severe damage on St. Croix and St. John.^[1]

[edit] Puerto Rico

Marilyn passed over the islands of Vieques and Culebra, where it caused much damage. There were reports of extensive flash flooding across northern and eastern Puerto Rico, and 12,000 people were forced to ride out the storm in shelters. One person was killed in Culebra.^[1]

[edit] Economic impact

The exact figure for damages in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico is not available, although the American Insurance Services Group set the combined damage at $875 million USD. However, FEMA estimated the damage cost as $1 billion USD while an economic research group in the U.S. Virgin Islands estimated the damage to be at $3 billion USD.^[1] As of 1995, the estimated damages to the U.S. islands were set at $1.5 billion USD.

The economic impact to the islands was severe, particularly to St. Thomas and St. John, which are heavily dependent on tourism.

Aside from high winds and seas, one possible explanation for the storm's heavy damage may have been complacency on the part of local island populations. Marilyn followed on the heals of Luis, a more powerful Category 4 hurricane initially predicted to pass very close to St. Thomas. This prediction prompted locals to be particularly thorough in their pre-storm preparations; however, the hurricane passed further away from the island and caused relatively moderate damage. This may have caused islanders to prematurely relax, as Marilyn was a much smaller hurricane in appearance than Luis.