Hurricane Gilbert Sept 3-16 1988 - NOAA

United States, 1; Jamaica, 45; Haiti, 30;
Guatemala, 12; Honduras, 12; Dominican
Republic, 5; Venezuela, 5; Costa Rim, 2;
and Nicaragua, 2.
Estimated damage with Gilbert was nearly
$10 billion. Jamaica alone had $65 billion
in damage and the damage to Mexico was
estimated between $1 billion and $2 billion.
Reports from the Mexican government indicate
that more than 60,OOO homes were
destroyed. The most extensive damage in
the United States was from the tornadoes
in San Antonio. Total damage in the
United States was estimated at $33 million.
With the exception of the tornadoes, hurricane
induced damage in south Texas was
light. Most damage was along the lower
Texas Coast and the lower Rio Grande Valley
from high winds and higher than normal
tides. A few trees were uprooted and many
limbs downed; however, only a few power
poles and lines were downed. Agricultural
damage was slight. Beach erosion ranged
up to 4 feet along parts of the coast near
Brownsville.
CHAFTER 2
SUMMARY OF NWS PREPAREDNESS
ACTION, INFORMATION AND WARN-
ING SERVICE.
PreDaredness Act ions
All National Weather Service (NWS) offices
along the Texas coast (Beaumont-Pt.
Arthur, Houston-Galveston, Victoria, Corpus
Christi, and Brownsville) had performed
extensive pre- and early hurricane
season preparedness activities. Hundreds
of presentations to the media, civic, industrial,
and business groups reached
thousands of people.
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NWS officials met with emergency management
coordinators (EMCs) before the hurricane
season to ensure that strong links
would exist between N WS offices and local
emergency management offices during hurricane
situations. Coordination with emergency
management officials was
strengthened in the Corpus Qristi, Victoria,
and HoustodGalveston areas because
of monthly emergency management
meetings that are held throughout the year.
These meetings were attended by the local
NWS Meteorologist in Charge (MIC).
As part of the NWS preparedness activities,
Dr. Bob Sheets, Director of the NHC, participated
in local meetings with all the mastal
WSOs except Brownsville between May
9-12. In total, over a thousand people attended
these meetings and media coverage
was extensive. Other preparedness actions
by Weather Service Forecast Office
(WSFO) San Antonio included organizing
a comprehensive coastal humcane exercise
to test AFOS backup procedures and links
with the amateur radio groups along the
coast. The successful drill was held July 28.
Although no major problems were encountered
during the storm, there appeared
to be some confusion among EMCs and the
public concerning hurricane tornadoes as
well as the use of hurricane probabilities.
Hurricane induced tornadoes tend to be
small and weak. They do not have the Same
characteristics as thunderstorm induced tornadoes
and thus are more difficult to
detect. The hurricane landfall probabilities
were, at times, not used in conjunction with
the 72- hour track.€orecasts and the two
should be used together to show the uncertainty
associated with forecasts of longer
duration.
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