The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ended on November 30, will be remembered as a relatively quiet season as was predicted and can even be described as uneventful for the Caribbean region.
The Caribbean was spared this season from any major storms or hurricanes but it is not always going to be so.
It was predicted that during the 2014 Hurricane Season, there could be about 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes of categories 3, 4 or 5. The actual numbers at the end of the official season were 8 named storms, 6 hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
The two major hurricanes were Edouard, a category 3 in early September and Gonzalo, a category 4 in mid-October. The other Hurricanes were Arthur, a category 2 in early July, Bertha, a Category 1 in early August, Cristobal, a Category 1 towards the end of August and Fay, a category 1 in Mid-October. The other named storm, Hanna towards the end of October remained a tropical storm. There were 9 depressions.
While there were no direct hits to any Caribbean Country, the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis and Anguilla were affected by Hurricane Gonzalo, while the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Bermuda and other islands in the Lesser Antilles were affected by some of this season’s hurricanes.
The effects of the 2014 Hurricane season in North America and the Caribbean resulted in 17 fatalities and damage totaling about US$232 Million.
During the season, the Caribbean was also affected by intense precipitation due to Trough systems and tropical waves which would have negatively impacted some of the islands. This has prompted the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), a risk insurance facility, which many of the countries subscribe too, to pay off US$1.5Million as compensation for damage to St. Kitts/Nevis and Anguilla in early November.
Amidst the Hurricanes, storms and intense rains during the 2014 Hurricane season some Caribbean countries suffered some drought conditions. These countries included Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Guyana and Antigua where stringent measures had to be introduced for use of water.
The St. Lucian Government had to declare a water crisis, Jamaica trucked water into various communities and in Antigua, a water supplier had to significantly increase the amount of water it provided on a daily basis.
Residents of Dominica are being urged to use the period between December this year and May, 2015 to prepare for the next hurricane season which begins June 1, 2015.
Was the prediction really matching up to a relatively quiet hurricane season? Well i don’t want to see or know what a bad or active hurricane season would be. Thank God for watching over our country, our people and preserving us from these storms.