Hurricane Mitch (1998)

It formed in the western Caribbean Sea on 22 October and, in extremely favourable conditions, strengthened rapidly to Category 5 by 26 October, its eye remaining well defined as it drifted slowly westward off the coast of Honduras while tropical storm force winds extended as far as Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula. Moving slowly from 29 October to 3 November, it dropped historic rainfall over Honduras and Nicaragua, with unofficial reports of up to 75 inches. It then roved through Central America, regenerated in the Bay of Campeche and reached Florida as a strong tropical storm. Most of the deaths followed the flooding, and accounts also record more than 8,000 people missing by the end of 1998.

Formed (UTC)

1998-10-22

Dissipated (UTC)

1998-11-09

Peak Saffir-Simpson category

5

Peak wind (knots, 1-minute)

155

Basin it formed in

North Atlantic

Deaths, as sources state them

nearly 11,000 to 11,374 in Central America, estimates differ

IBTrACS storm page

ncics.org/ibtracs/index.php?name=v04r01-1998295N12284

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: atlantic, category 5, honduras, nicaragua, flooding, 1998

Coordinates: 37.48911981517531, -61.777200462061735

Part of Atlantic hurricanes of category 4 and above in the 1990 to 1999 seasons

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