15 years ago this week Honduras was hit by a hurricane that would forever change the country and its people. Here is
One Gringo’s Account of Hurricane Mitch
Guanaja, Honduras – October 10, 1998
An unassuming tropical wave moves off the coast of Africa. Over 2,000 miles to the west, Bo Bush is leading a group of guests on a dive expedition at the Bayman Bay Club. The sun is bright and warm. The tropical fish are breath-taking.
Bo is working for the Club as a dive master on his home island of Guanaja, located 38 miles off the north coast of Honduras. Little does he realize the changes that will take place in his life and in the lives of his 7.5 million countrymen over the next 3 weeks.
The Caribbean, northeast of the Mosquito Coast – October 22 – 26, 1998
The tropical wave receives the name “Mitch” on October 22 as it becomes a tropical storm. It rapidly gains strength to become a Category 5 hurricane by the 26th as it moves across the Caribbean and positions itself just north of Honduras. Torrential rains are falling on the Bay Islands and the mainland and people are extremely worried about Mitch’s next move.
Miami, Florida – October 27, 1998
At the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the meteorologists are frustrated by the conflicting computer models predicting the storm’s track. But they settle on a slow NW drift away from Honduras toward the Yucatán Peninsula.
The Aguán River Valley on the mainland – October 27, 1998
Problems are mounting in the Aguán river valley on the north coast, just west of the town of Savá. A small village of thatch-roofed, mud-walled houses named La Uba is in the path of the swelling river. The houses are washing away on by one and water traps Juan and his family on all sides. Their only hope is to cling to the trees. As the water rises beneath them, Juan’s 9-year-old son, Juan Carlos, slips into the muddy water. His wife screams as Juan grabs him by the arm and pulls him back into the tree. At the same time thousands of acres of bananas along the Aguán are being washed out to sea. Mitch is not moving away as predicted. It is jut sitting there, right off the coast.
Colonia Bonito – October 27, 1998
Sixty miles to the west in Colonia Bonita Pastor Austin is in his upstairs apartment above the church watching trees being washed out of the mountains by the thousands toward the sea. He prays for the safety of his neighbors as they are showing up at his door one by one seeking refuge upstairs. His tiny home soon fills with over 80 people. It isn’t long before the water is overtaking the village. They hear tree trunks bouncing off the walls downstairs. The house in front of the church is torn away and gone as they watch helplessly.
Guanaja – October 27 – 29, 1998
Back on the island of Guanaja, Bo is in a concrete basement at the Bayman Bay Club with guests and other staff. Many of his neighbors on the island are taking food and supplies and seeking shelter in the hills. The eye wall is only 20 miles to the SE. They are in for 3 more days of unrelenting wind, rain, and salt spray as Mitch sits stationary and churns. Not only is there torrential rain from the clouds to deal with, but there is even more water, salty water, blowing off the tops of the waves onto the island. When Bo and the others finally are able to come out of the shelter and look around, there isn’t a green leaf on a tree anywhere. Three miles up the coast, the entire town of Mangrove Bight is gone. The residents survived in the hills, but they have nothing to come back to. All of their houses were built over the bay water on wooden pillars among a mangrove forest. Now the houses and the trees are all missing. All they see is debris floating on the water and scattered up the coast.
Olancho and Tegucigalpa – October 29 – November 1, 1998
The worst is only beginning on the mainland. Mitch is still predicted to go north, but instead it turns directly south and makes landfall on Thursday the 29th. The country receives an average of 46 inches of rain from the storm with up to 75 inches in some local areas. In the central mountainous regions near Olancho and the capital city of Tegucigalpa, mudslides are burying homes and people. The Choluteca River, which bisects the capital city, is taking a wide swath of buildings and neighborhoods with it. The rains and tropical storm force winds finally subside on Sunday, November 1. People are trying to comprehend the overwhelming devastation around them. President Carlos Flores’ assessment is that the country has been set back 50 years.
Sambo Creek – November 1, 1998
A man from Sambo Creek, a Garífuna fishing village on the north coast, finds his way home after being washed out to sea for 4 days. He was floating on a large, drifting mat of debris. He could see search planes flying overhead from time to time, but he was just a speck among the massive amount of debris on the water. He tells his family how he eventually drifted back to land and was able to walk home.
Florida and the Bahamas – November 4 – 5, 1998
Mitch isn’t finished yet. After blowing across Guatemala and Mexico, the storm drifts NE and reorganizes over the Gulf of Mexico before it hits southern Florida on the 4th and the Bahamas on the 5th. It finally breaks apart over the Atlantic and is gone. Over 11,000 are dead. Hundreds of thousands are homeless.
To be continued……..
Rural Honduras 