29 Continued from previous page was known, for a period of time afterwards, as the Jordan's Flood. On August 31, 1949 Tropical Storm #3 dumped over 10 inches of rain in St. Thomas, St. George, St. Joseph, and St. John and five to six inches in northern parishes. A tropical depression on October 1, 1970 also triggered massive floods in St. Michael in general and Bridgetown in particular which became known as the 1970 floods. There were another 13 systems which passed within 40 miles of Barbados this century (20th). The worse systems which levelled Barbados were 1675, 1780, and 1831. On August 31, 1675, the hurricane appeared to have passed off the West Coast destroying numerous plantations, especially along the western side of the island. On October 10, 1780, a very slow moving hurricane struck Barbados on a Tuesday evening and battered the island "almost without intermission for nearly 48 hours" leaving the island looking like "a country laid waste by fire and sword", Commander-in-Chief Major General Vaughan wrote to England. There was near total destruction with 4,326 dead and over £1 million in damage. Retired meteorologist, Deighton Best, said the hurricane which struck on August 10, 1831 was perhaps the most powerful ever to hit Barbados. "I would rate the winds at 200 miles per hour. It left damage at more than £2 million and about 1,525 dead, though the figure could have been as high as 2,500. I would rate this similar in strength to Hugo when it was approaching the Eastern Caribbean," he told the NATION. The 1831 hurricane struck at 5 p.m. and battered Barbados for 12 hours. A writer of the day said the rain “was driven with such force as to injure the skin and was so thick as to prevent a view of any object". Waves broke over the North Point cliffs which were 70 feet high. Barbados has not seen this kind of activity this century (20Th) and as a result, a popular notion has arisen that there must be some special providence protecting the island because cyclones do not hit Barbados. While this is debatable, there are physical reasons why systems curve northwest, bypassing Barbados and other Caribbean islands. "If a hurricane forms to the east of Barbados, there is a 90 per cent probability that it will pass to the north of the island and this is because of the Coriolis Force," explained Best. Because of the earth's anticlockwise rotation and the direction of the Trade Continues on next page
30 Publizr Home