Hurricane Mitch

There have been many natural disasters in the 20th century. One of the most deadliest and most intense hurricanes was Hurricane Mitch. According to the article "Monstrous Mitch" by Mace Bentley and Steve Horstmeyer, and Graphs A and B, show the conditions and effects that made this hurricane one of the greatest natural disasters of the 20th century.

Certain conditions such as pressure and wind speed made this hurricane intense. At first, warm ocean water was around 86 degrees fahrenheit, which was most important for making this hurricane disastrous. As the warm water evaporated, it gave off an unlimited supply of water vapor into the atmosphere. According to the article, "Monstrous Mitch", "there was light winds that allowed energy to be concentrated in the region and outflow aloft which supported the lift of the initial disturbance." In addition, according to Chart B, the wind speed of hurricane Mitch was 180 mph and stayed that way for a duration of 15 hours.

There were many severe effects that made hurricane Mitch into a monstrous disaster. For 33 hours, hurricane Mitch maintained a category 5 intensity, according to Chart B. According to the article "Monstrous Mitch", rainfall amounts over Honduras and Nicaragua ranged from 50 to 75 inches." Also, there were many mudflows and landslides due to the amount of poorly consolidated volcanic soil. According to Chart A, hurricane Mitch had more than 9,000 deaths across Honduras and Nicaragua.

Hurricane Mitch had a devastating economic impact on Central America. Honduras and Nicaragua were very fragile and inopulent. According to the article, " even a minor disturbance could cause an infant economic recovery to stumble and fall." Naturally, there was damage to the banana crops, which was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Furthermore, many of the mountain roads had disappeared, making it difficult and nearly