The night of October 29, 1998 was a particularly horrible night for the citizens of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Bridges, hospitals, factories, and prisons were demolished.1 During a period of thirty-six hours Hurricane Mitch poured into the city 25 inches of rain, causing soil saturation with water, bringing about catastrophic landslides. The rain also brought flooding to neighborhoods adjacent to creeks and rivers that customarily have small amounts of water flowing. This flooding ravaged roads and houses, and cut off electric power to most parts of the city.2
People had trouble seeking shelter from the hurricane because navigation around the city was limited. Streets were flooded and bridges were down throughout the city. Hospitals were rapidly filled, but they did not have the necessary conditions to attend to people’s needs because water sources were contaminated, and in certain hospitals, the buildings themselves were affected directly by the flooding as well.3
Five days before Mitch’s arrival, Tegucigalpa was a completely different city. Its citizens could not imagine how their homes and streets, and hospitals and parks, would be affected by the hurricane that was forming on October 24, 1998. Two thousand miles southwest of Jamaica, the tropical storm Mitch became Hurricane Mitch. This 124-mile-diameter beast traveled throughout the Caribbean, passing by the Panamanian coast and then to the Honduran coast where it halted to unleash chaos for day after day. On October 26 it reached its maximum strength, reaching wind speeds of 177 mph, while it hovered off the Honduran coast. On October 29, it hit the Honduran mainland as a Category 4 hurricane, with massive amounts of rain in a short period of time. In two days, Honduras received between twenty-five and thirty times the expected amount of rain for the month of October. As a consequence, Tegucigalpa began to flood because rivers accumulated more water than they could carry, and they began to overflow. Throughout this hilly city, the soil was also over-saturated with water, so landslides occurred frequently.2
The casualties of this terrible catastrophe were 5,657 people, and it left 8,058 missing people and 12,275 injured. Additionally about 250,000 persons were left homeless. The damages to infrastructure reached $3.8 billion. During the following two years, all of the international financial aid that the country received was solely destined to reconstructing the 70% of the national highway system that was affected, including the 92 bridges that were either damaged or completely destroyed. Almost one out of every four classrooms of the public schools were destroyed, and for the ones that remained, it was hard to find teachers, because a great number of teachers were themselves reconstructing their lives by the side of their families. Water conducts were affected and failed to provide clean water to most Tegucigalpan citizens’ homes and to public and private hospitals too.3
Many citizens claimed that the government was not supporting them in the reconstruction of the country, because they did not receive direct help in the form of work or money directly from the government. Instead, the government destined the financial aid they were receiving to reconstruct the most important roads to enable transportation. Once transportation became available, the plan turned to boosting the economy through agricultural production.6
This catastrophic event considerably affected Honduras, and specially Tegucigalpa, because of the great amount of damage it caused to the infrastructure of the country, and because of all the human lives taken and affected by it.
- Jeff Boyer, “Mitch in Honduras,” NACLA Report on the Americas XXXIII, no. 2 (September/October 1999): 36. ↵
- William Smith, “Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, ” Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, “Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- William Smith, ” Hurricane Mitch and Honduras: An illustration of population vulnerability,” International Journal of Health System and Disaster Management 1, no. 1 (2013): 54. ↵
- Jeff Boyer, “Mitch in Honduras,” NACLA Report on the Americas XXXIII, no. 2 (September/October 1999): 37. ↵
46 comments
Noah Laing
The author writes a nicely formed article that includes good description oh how Hurricane Mitch came to be and the impact it had on Honduras. It’s always sad to hear of these natural disasters that set back entire countries and take peoples lives. I wasn’t aware of details of Hurricane Mitch, but despite the government not taking immediate action to help Honduras recover, I’m glad the country eventually got aid and has progressed greatly since the tragedy.
Timothy ODekirk
I think it’s safe to say that Hurricanes are indeed a natural disaster. They are horrific in every way, and knowing what had happened during the first semester, with all of these hurricanes occurring, even in San Antonio and especially in Houston, we know that hurricanes can effect others in terrible ways. Knowing how Houston was affected by Hurricane Harvey, I cannot begin to imagine what it was like for Honduras during Hurricane Mitch. Even though Hurricanes are so fascinating to me, hurricanes can become historical in the worst ways possible, just like Hurricane Mitch in Houndaras.
Rafael Lopez-Rodriguez
Living through a hurricane is never easy nor pleasing. It is a catastrophe no one wants to be a part of. I wonder how long it took Honduras to recover from such a devastating storm. This story reminds me of the recent hurricane season. In September 2017 Puerto Rico suffered a similar path when Hurricane Maria wiped out the island leaving many homeless and the whole island without power and clean running water. It takes time to recover from storms like these. I liked how he states the facts of the aftermath of the storm and how the country suffered. It is certainly never pleasing living throughout a hurricane.
Tyler Thompson
It’s very unfortunate to think that a natural disaster so catastrophic could occur during a time that we weren’t even born, and to look at Honduras now, and see how much they’ve recovered. However, it was also weird to learn about the government not taking immediate action to try and rebuild the economy, until transportation became available. It is sad to see the number of casualties that occurred as a result of the hurricane.
Valeria Hernandez
Sebastian Castro Ramos writes a well-structured and interesting article about the catastrophic event Mitch in 1998. This an informative and relevant topic given or recent encounters with tropical storms like Irma, Harvey, Maria, and Jose. The author displays a fantastic story arc telling the course of the hurricane the magnitude and other relevant important details.
Given the recent environmental events, this article is perfect timing
Andrea Chavez
Pretty impressive who much was described in a short article. It is truly a shame all the destruction it caused in Honduras, to the people and government. But well what isn’t to expect from such harsh natural disasters. What made it worse were the infrastructures where not ready for such a big hit, that’s why they were easier knocked down.
Tara Sellers
There lives were normal and then they were destroyed. The sheer number of casualties is surprising to me. I know hurricanes are disastrous, but I guess it never really sank in. Did they not have enough time to evacuate? The article makes it seem like they didn’t know it was coming. I wonder how long it took to rebuild and if they ever recovered.
Brianda Gomez
It truly is heartbreaking all of the damages that a natural catastrophe can cause. Floods, loss of electricity, and the abundance of rain fall were just some of the results of “Mitch”. Over 5,000 lives were taken, and many other people missing and injured. It is heartbreaking that the government did not really help their people after the devastation they had gone through.
Clarissa Bustamante
Very interesting article, it really made me want to keep reading to hope for a great ending but of course that is not what it concluded to. It is crazy to read about how many people were affected by this hurricane. This article was very eye-opening because it is horrible when you cant stop anything that you have no control of. It is very sad how many people were unable to find shelter because of the flooding and the bridges collapsing and the ones that were able to get to the hospital were untreated because of the water contamination.
Marco Picardo
Such a tragic event that took place in Honduras. Natural disasters are unforgiving and sometimes unpredictable. It’s impossible to stop these events from happening. It’s saddening to know that some 5,657 people died in this event. It shows how unforgiving mother nature really is. I believed a big issue that lead to so many people dying is the fact that Honduras was and is underdeveloped. So a lot of the structures gave way and washed away from the storm.