David at peak intensity near landfall in Hispaniola on August 31, 1979
Meteorological history
Formed
August 25, 1979
Extratropical
September 6, 1979
Dissipated
September 8, 1979
Category 5 major hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds
175 mph (280 km/h)
Lowest pressure
924 mbar (hPa); 27.29 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities
2,078
Damage
$1.54 billion (1979 USD)
Areas affected
Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, The Bahamas, East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Canada
IBTrACS
Part of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season
Hurricane David was a devastating Atlantic hurricane which caused massive loss of life in the Dominican Republic in August 1979, and was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the country in recorded history. A long-lived Cape Verde hurricane, David was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season.
David formed on August 25, in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean near Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa. Two days later, the storm reached hurricane strength, then underwent rapid intensification, strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane and reaching peak sustained winds of 175 mph (282 km/h) on August 28. By the time the system dissipated on September 8, it had traversed the Leeward Islands, Greater Antilles, The Bahamas, the East Coast of the United States, and Atlantic Canada.
David was the first hurricane to affect the Lesser Antilles since Hurricane Inez in 1966. With winds of 175 mph (282 km/h), David was one of only 2 storms of Category 5 intensity to make landfall on the Dominican Republic in the 20th century, the other also being Inez, and the deadliest since the 1930 San Zenón hurricane, killing over 2,000 people in its path. In addition, David was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the island of Dominica since the 1834 Padre Ruíz hurricane, which killed over 200 people.[1]
^Neely, Wayne (December 19, 2016). The Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes of the Caribbean and the Americas: The Stories Behind the Great Storms of the North Atlantic. iUniverse. p. 375. ISBN 978-1-5320-1151-1. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
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