Tropical Storm Gamma - Aftermath, Naming, and Records

Aftermath, Naming, and Records

The only country suffering lasting damage from the storm was Honduras. After the storm turned out to sea and Gamma's rains desisted, Honduran helicopters began rescuing those stranded by flood waters. The United Nations' World Food Programme spent $460,000 (2005 USD) airlifting 645 tonnes of food, enough for 195,000 five-person families, to northern Honduras. The Red Cross also provided food aid, hygiene kits, blankets and other humanitarian aid to families that had sustained damage to their property or were displaced into shelters. Both of these organizations already had active distribution networks in the country as they were responding to hurricanes Stan, Wilma, and Beta, all of which caused fatalities in Honduras that year.

The government of Andalucía, in Spain, donated 40 million lempiras to aid in disaster efforts, and the United States employed helicopters from a nearby military base to assist Honduran ones in the distribution of food aid. Relative to the hurricanes of previous weeks, the humanitarian needs following Gamma were minimal, and were simply blended into the ongoing efforts. Following its usage, the name Gamma was not retired and will be used again when the regular list of names is exhausted.

After all of the twenty one predetermined hurricane names for the 2005 season were exhausted following Hurricane Wilma, the Greek alphabet was used, beginning with Tropical Storm Alpha. This storm was designated Gamma once it was known to have reached tropical storm status. This was the first time that the name Gamma had been used for a tropical cyclone. Its formation extended the 2005 season's record for tropical storms to twenty-four, which was exceeded four more times and ended at twenty-eight storms after the formation of Tropical Storm Zeta and the post-season addition of an unnamed storm from October.