Hurricane Beta facts for kids
| Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Beta on October 29
|
|
| Formed | October 26, 2005 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | October 31, 2005 |
| Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 115 mph (185 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 962 mbar (hPa); 28.41 inHg |
| Fatalities | None reported |
| Areas affected | Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras |
| Part of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Beta was a powerful storm that formed in the Caribbean Sea in 2005. It was the seventh "major hurricane" of that year. A major hurricane means it was a very strong storm, at least a Category 3 on the hurricane scale.
Beta started on October 26 and hit the eastern coast of Nicaragua on October 30. When it hit land, it was a strong Category 2 hurricane. Even though it caused a lot of damage, it was not as bad as people first thought it would be.
Contents
How the Storm Formed and Moved
On October 26, a large area of low pressure formed near Costa Rica in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. This area quickly grew into Tropical Depression Twenty-Six. Just six hours later, it became Tropical Storm Beta.
Beta got stronger and became a hurricane on October 29. It kept getting stronger, reaching its top winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) by October 30. This made it a Category 3 hurricane. The Colombian island of Providencia was very close to the storm's center for several hours. People on the island reported a lot of damage to homes and lost communication.
On the morning of October 30, Beta hit land near Sandy Bay Sirpi in Nicaragua. It was a strong Category 2 hurricane when it arrived. The storm destroyed many buildings and knocked down trees. As Beta moved over land, it became weaker. It eventually turned into a leftover low pressure system. If it had moved back over the Pacific Ocean, it might have gotten strong again. But it didn't.
The leftover parts of Hurricane Beta brought heavy rain to parts of Central America. Forecasters warned that this rain could cause dangerous landslides and flooding. Luckily, no deaths were reported, but some people were injured or went missing. The storm finally disappeared late on October 30. Even after Beta was gone, its rain bands kept falling on Nicaragua and Honduras on October 31.
Nicaraguan government officials said that if Beta had hit bigger cities like Puerto Cabezas or Bluefields, it would have been a much bigger disaster. Hurricane Beta was the first hurricane to be named using a letter from the Greek alphabet. This happened because all the regular hurricane names for 2005 had already been used.
Getting Ready for the Storm
In Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, local officials told people to stay inside to stop stealing. They also turned off electricity to prevent injuries. About 60,000 people moved into safe shelters. Thousands of people struggled through heavy rain to reach these shelters. Many experts, like Milagros Castro, a national weather director, warned about the danger of mudslides. This was especially true because Beta was a slow-moving storm.
In Honduras, the government also declared a "red alert" for the storm. An emergency team worked to move 150,000 people from parts of the capital city, Tegucigalpa. These areas were in danger of flooding and mudslides. People were also getting ready to leave in five of the country's eighteen areas. Officials in nearby El Salvador also warned people to be ready for mudslides. This was because Hurricane Stan had caused a lot of damage there earlier. All these preparations helped a lot, as no deaths were reported despite the damage.
What Happened When Beta Hit
Providencia
On the island of Providencia, the strong winds ripped roofs off many wooden homes. The island's main communication tower was knocked down, and a bridge for tourists was destroyed. But most of the 5,000 people on the island stayed safe. They climbed up Providencia's hills to ride out the storm in strong brick shelters. At least thirty people were reported to be injured on the island.
Nicaragua
Beta destroyed most of the town of Sandy Bay when it hit. Most of the town's 3,000 people had already left before the storm. Many homes in Sandy Bay were wooden huts, and about eighty percent of them were too damaged to live in. Trees were knocked down, and roofs were torn off houses. At least one pier was damaged. Many cows were killed by the storm.
About 700 people were stuck in Tasbapauni, a town separated from the mainland by a lagoon. Eighty percent of the homes in Tasbapauni were thought to be badly damaged. Around 200 homes in the seventeen villages around Laguna de Perlas were also reported to be very damaged.
Even though the storm's leftover parts were expected to drop more rain, President Enrique Bolaños said his country had avoided a major disaster. He promised to quickly send help to towns that were cut off by flooding and landslides. Nicaragua's Civil Defence Chief, Col. Mario Perez Cassar, said that eighty percent of the buildings on the central coast where the hurricane hit were heavily damaged or destroyed.
One person was injured, and four people were reported missing in Nicaragua. The four missing men were later found alive on a boat that had been swept out into the Caribbean Sea. A tanker ship from Panama found the four men, who were Miskito Indians, floating about forty-eight kilometers off the coast of Nicaragua. Their boat had run out of gas.
Honduras
In Honduras, Beta left fifty communities cut off. It also broke bridges in the northeastern areas of Gracias a Dios, Atlantida, and Colon on the coast. Strong winds knocked down signs, fences, trees, and power and phone poles. This cut off electricity and communication in hundreds of communities. At least two highways were blocked.
Authorities moved more than 7,800 people from north of the Nicaraguan border. This was because four rivers overflowed due to Beta's rain. The national soccer league stopped all its games. The airports at La Ceiba and Roatan on the coast were sometimes open and sometimes closed. This was because of bad visibility, strong winds, and flooding. The flooding damaged fields of rice, corn, and beans. High waters also caused snakes to come out of the jungle and into towns. Luckily, no one was reported to have been bitten by a snake.
More About Hurricanes
- You can find more information about Hurricane Beta from the NHC (National Hurricane Center) here: archive on Hurricane Beta.
|
Tropical cyclones of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Images for kids
-
Hurricane Beta getting stronger east of Nicaragua on October 29.
-
Rainfall amounts every three hours, measured by TRMM, from Hurricane Beta between October 26 and 31, 2005.
-
A satellite's guess of the total rainfall from Hurricane Beta.
-
A view of Hurricane Beta from a plane flying over Panama.
See also
In Spanish: Huracán Beta para niños
