Hurricane Gert (1993)

Hurricane Gert (1993)

Hurricane Gert was a large tropical cyclone that caused significant flood damage throughout Central America and Mexico in September 1993. The seventh named storm and third hurricane of the annual hurricane season, Gert originated as a tropical depression from a tropical wave over the southwestern Caribbean Sea on September 14. The following day, the cyclone briefly attained tropical storm strength before moving ashore in Nicaragua. It proceeded through Honduras and reorganized into a tropical storm over the Gulf of Honduras on September 17, though it weakened back to a depression upon entering Belize the next day. After crossing the Yucatán Peninsula, Gert emerged over warm water in the Bay of Campeche and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane on September 20. The hurricane made a final landfall on the Gulf Coast of Mexico near Tuxpan, Veracruz, with peak sustained winds of 100 mph (165 km/h). The rugged terrain quickly disrupted its structure, and Gert entered the Pacific Ocean as a tropical depression near the state of Nayarit on September 21. There, it briefly redeveloped a few strong thunderstorms before dissipating over open water five days later.

Gert's broad wind circulation produced widespread and heavy rainfall across Central America, which, combined with saturated soil from Tropical Storm Bret's passage a month earlier, caused significant flooding of property and crops. Although the storm's highest winds occurred upon landfall in Mexico, the worst effects in the country were due to torrential rain. Following the overflow of several major rivers, deep flood waters submerged extensive parts of Veracruz and Tamaulipas and forced thousands to evacuate. The heaviest rainfall occurred further inland over the mountainous region of San Luis Potosí, where as much as 31.41 inches (798 mm) of precipitation were measured. In the wake of the disaster, the road networks across the affected countries were severely disrupted, and thousands of people became homeless. The storm caused at least 102 deaths and over $170 million (1993 USD) in damage.