1847 Hurricane

On the 10th October 1847 a disastrous hurricane over the island. Although the island was stuck by a hurricane in 1790, the perception of the occupants at the time was that the location that the location of the island was outside the range of storms that were frequent in the Northern Antilles at the time (Woodcock, 1867). Hence, the construction of buildings didn’t take into consideration the possible destructive impacts of high winds and heavy rainfall that comes along with storms and hurricanes (Schwartz, 2015). The hurricane came around 10 at night with little to no indications of changes in the weather that allowed time for necessary preparations. High wind approached from the south-east to north-west, with heavy rainfall, beaming lightening, and roars of thunder were frequent until the morning of the 12th, when it abated (Woodcock, 1867).
In the capital, Scarborough 122 houses, including outbuildings, were blown down, and 84 were damaged. The island barracks located at Fort King George, was unroofed and some aspects of the structure felt of the ground. The damaged were estimated to be around £150,000 (current value $2,815,605TT). Approximately 30 persons were killed by the hurricane or the aftermath (Woodcock, 1867)

Source: https://goo.gl/rfLxmb

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1847

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