May 2004 Caribbean floods facts for kids
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Satellite image of convection affecting Hispaniola
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| Date | May 18 – 25, 2004 |
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| Location | Greater Antilles, mostly Hispaniola |
| Deaths | About 2,000 |
The May 2004 Caribbean floods were a terrible flood that hit the Caribbean Islands, mainly Hispaniola (which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Some parts of northern Puerto Rico were also affected. This event happened from May 18 to May 25, 2004.
These floods were caused by over two weeks of heavy rain in the Caribbean. This constant rain led to dangerous landslides, which are like mudslides, that sadly killed many people. The storm brought a lot of rain, with some areas in Haiti getting over 9.7 inches and parts of the Dominican Republic getting 10 inches.
The floods caused a lot of damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. More than 1,300 homes were destroyed, and about 2,000 people lost their lives. Because of this destruction, nearly 15,000 people had to leave their homes and had nowhere to live. The town of Jimaní, located near the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was hit the hardest. The damage there was so bad that the Dominican president, Hipólito Mejía, declared a national day of mourning after seeing what the storm had done.
How the Floods Happened
A large area of low pressure formed over Central America around May 19. This weather system brought very heavy rainfall. It slowly moved eastward into the Caribbean Sea. By May 23, it was in the central Caribbean, causing rain across Jamaica, eastern Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Even though strong upper-level winds kept it from becoming a full tropical cyclone (like a tropical storm or hurricane), this system still had features similar to a subtropical storm. It had a clear atmospheric circulation and a lot of rising air that formed clouds and rain. The way this low-pressure system interacted with a high pressure area over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean created winds of about 25 mph (40 km/h) across the region.
The system continued to move slowly across the Greater Antilles. By early on May 24, it was south of Haiti and interacting with another weather system called a tropical wave. Later that day, the low-pressure system moved over southwestern Haiti. By May 25, it had moved into the Bahamas. For a short time, the National Hurricane Center thought it might turn into a tropical cyclone because it had a well-defined center. However, by late on May 26, the system started moving quickly to the northeast and no longer had a chance to develop into a tropical storm. By May 27, it was about 190 mi (305 km) east of Bermuda, connected to a weather pattern that still reached Hispaniola.
