Impact
Upon making landfall in Puerto Rico, Georges took along a 10 foot storm surge as well as 20 foot ones above the first ones. Rainfall totaled out to 30.51 inches (775 mm) in Jayuya with rains of up to 25 inches (640 mm) spread around the rest of the island. As the mountains' flooding drained off into every river in Puerto Rico and causing them to overflow. Three tornadoes were reported to possibly have occurred on Puerto Rico. One was detected just north of Puenta Este in Vieques. A second one was recorded in the Orocovis and Barranquitas general area at about 100 UTC. Doppler radar recorded a third tornado in the Jayuya area. No fatalities were reported on the island. Damages to the utility system was catastrophic. 96% of the electrical system was lost for 1.3 million people. Water and sewer service was lost to 75% of the island's population. Road damage totaled out to $21.995 million. Only 8.4% of the population lost telephone service.
The agricultural sector of Puerto Rico lost at more than 50% of its crops and 65% of its poultry. Equipment, agriculture and manufacturing losses totaled out to $212.9 million a day. Damages to houses were catastrophic, with 28,005 houses were completely destroyed. Another 72,000 were partially destroyed. On the nearby island of Culebra, 74 houses were completely destroyed with 89 getting partial damage. Schools got an estimated $20-25 million in damage. A total damage estimate on Puerto Rico totaled out to $1.907 billion.
There were several deaths in Puerto Rico from Georges. A 28-year old woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning after her generator released the smog. Two others were hospitalized for the same issue. A Bayamon man was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after fumes entered his store. A mother and her three children were killed as a lit candle set the house on fire. The other two cases were due to head trauma and electrocution. Total damages from the storm amounted to roughly $2 billion.
Read more about this topic: Effects Of Hurricane Georges In Puerto Rico
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—Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
“As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice—there is no standard higher than the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.”
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—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)