- Great Barbados hurricane
Infobox Hurricane
Name=Great Barbados hurricane
Type=hurricane
Year=1831
Basin=Atl
Image location=
Formed=beforeAugust 10 ,1831
Dissipated=afterAugust 17 ,1831
1-min winds=115
Pressure=
Da
Inflated=2
Fatalities=c. 2,500
Areas=Barbados ,Puerto Rico ,Cuba ,Louisiana
Hurricane season=1831 Atlantic hurricane season The Great Barbados hurricane was an intenseCategory 4 hurricane that left cataclysmic damage across theCaribbean andLouisiana in 1831.A possible Cape Verde hurricane, the storm slammed into
Barbados , leveling the capital ofBridgetown on August 10. Some 1,500 people perished, either drowned by the convert|17|ft|m|abbr=off|lk=off|adj=onstorm surge that the hurricane brought or crushed beneath collapsed buildings (including theSt. John's Parish Church, Barbados ). It produced great damage in Saint Vincent andSaint Lucia , and slightly touchedMartinique .On August 12, it arrived
Puerto Rico . Moving pastHaiti andCuba , it nearly destroyed the town ofLes Cayes and damagedSantiago de Cuba , and then crossed the entire length ofCuba , passing Havannah at August 14 (Hurricane Georges of 1998 had a similar track). Its estimated Category 4 winds brought ships ashore at Guantanamo Bay, causing mudslides, and resulted in major structural damage.It turned to the northwest, where it made landfall near
Last Island, Louisiana as aCategory 3 hurricane on August 17. There it flooded parts of New Orleans from its convert|7|to|10|ft|m|abbr=off|lk=off|adj=on storm surge inLake Pontchartrain and also causing hail. The back part of the city of New Orleans was completely inundated. It was simultaneously felt atPensacola, Florida andMobile, Alabama , and extended toNatchez, Mississippi convert|300|mi|km|abbr=off|lk=off up theMississippi river . Its duration was six days from the time it commenced in Barbados and its course cycloidal; the distance passed over by the storm from Barbados to New Orleans is convert|2100|nmi|km|abbr=off|lk=on, and the average rate of its progress fourteen miles an hour.The Great Barbados Hurricane left 2,500 people dead and $7 million dollars (1831 dollars) in damage. Ludlum (1963) wrote: “It was one of the great hurricanes of the century, or any century …”
Further reading
*cite journal |last=Levy |first=Claude |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1959 |month= |title=Barbados: The Last Years of Slavery 1823-1833 |journal=Journal of Negro History |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=308–345 |doi=10.2307/2716613 |url= |accessdate= |quote=
*cite encyclopedia |last=Longshore |first=David |coauthors= |editor=David Longshore |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones |title=Great Caribbean Hurricane of 1831 |edition= |year=1998 |month= |publisher=Facts on File |volume= |location=New York |isbn=0816033986 |pages=145 |quote=
*cite book |title=Early American Hurricanes: 1492-1870 |last=Ludlum |first=David M. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1963 |publisher=American Meteorological Society |location=Boston |isbn= |pages=140–141
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