El+Salvador+storm+and+flooding+of+November+2009

 El Salvador is located on the West Coast of Central America between Guatemala and Honduras. It has roughly 300 km of coastline and mainly consists of mountains, though a small coastal plateau is evident. The nation has been plagued by civil war that only recently has died down due to reform of its military and politics. El Salvador is also known as the Land of Volcanoes due to its frequent and often destructive volcanoes. Due to its location close to the Caribbean, El Salvador is extremely susceptible to hurricanes. Its rainy season therefore coincides with the Caribbean hurricane season of June through November. On November 7-8 2009, Hurricane Ida got close to El Salvador, a country that produces coffee beans, and gave a lot of rain to that area. On November 9, the National Assembly of El Salvador declared this a state of public calamity and national disaster. It also declared a 3-day period of national mourning as of Tuesday, 10 November.

There was a downpour from a low-pressure system indirectly related to Hurricane Ida. It got close to Mexico's Cancun and then steamed into the Gulf of Mexico, which affected the nearby country, El Salvador. When hurricane Ida, got close to the land, it bought heavy rains and strong wind to the country. About up to 300 mm rainfalls in 6 hours and 100 mph of wind. With this amount of rain, it caused a huge flooding. Many of the poor live in small huts that consist of straw or tin roofs and banana leaf or tin walls; which provide almost no protection from harsh weather. Also, a lot of water get into the ground and the soil didn’t have enough support for buildings. The soil flood out with the water. Moreover, heavy rains cause Chichontepec volcano slide down rocks and mud to the city. It buried houses and streets like in Figure 1. Therefore, most of the road had been cut off by waterflood and mudslide, show in Figure 2. In Figure 3 and Figure 4, we can see how much the lahars went through on the country.

It had a big influence on people, out of 2 million people, around 75,000 (15,000 families) had been affected, 124 had been killed by this disaster, floods and landslides completely destroyed 288 homes and damaged 1,835 houses, and damaged 37 bridges. Electric had been cut off. More than 14.000 people remain in the 118 temporary shelters. It had an economy loss of 27.5 million US dollars, about 90% loss of bean harvest.



From Figure 5 and Figure 6, it show the identity of north hemisphere: paths turn to the right and counter clockwise flow.

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In Figure7 with table 1, it shows how the air from tropical depression to tropical storm and developed into Category 1 and 2 hurricane. We can also see the pressure is getting low when the wind speed were increasing. It lost energy when the water temperature was getting cold and getting close to land.

Table1-Hurricane Ida storm coordinates
 * **Date: ** || **Time: ** || **Lat: ** || **Lon: ** || **Wind(mph): ** || **Pressure: ** || **Storm Type: ** ||
 * 11/04 || 15 GMT || 11.60 || -82.00 || 35 || 1006 || Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/04 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">12.00 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-82.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">996 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/05 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">12.50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-83.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">65 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">995 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/05 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">12.80 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-83.40 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">991 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/05 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">13.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-83.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">75 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">987 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 1 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/05 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">13.30 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-83.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">990 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/06 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">13.80 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1004 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/06 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">14.40 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1005 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/06 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15.00 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.00 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1007 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/06 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-83.90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1007 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/07 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">16.20 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.00 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1006 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Depression ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/07 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">17.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">45 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">1002 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/07 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">17.90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">997 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/07 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">18.90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.30 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">990 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">20.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-84.60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">990 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">7 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">20.20 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-85.40 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">983 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 1 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">20.50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-85.60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">984 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 1 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21.20 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-86.00 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">983 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 1 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">18 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-86.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">100 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">978 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 2 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/08 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">22.20 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-86.30 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">100 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">976 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 2 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/09 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">23.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-86.70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">105 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">979 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 2 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/09 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">25.10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-87.90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">988 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Category 1 Hurricane ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/09 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">26.50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-88.30 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">996 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/09 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">28.40 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-88.50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">70 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">991 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">3 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">29.30 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-88.60 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">65 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">997 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11/10 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9 GMT || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">29.90 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-88.50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">50 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">999 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tropical Storm ||



Roughly 2% of the Central American country retains its natural forest cover, El Salvador is the second most deforested nation in Latin America after Haiti. Almost 85% of its forest cover has disappeared since the 1960s and the country had one of the highest deforestation rates in the world during the 1990s.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">By the year 2005, Tropical Storm Stan hit El Salvador and gave heavy rains and mudslides. It killed at least 60 people in El Salvador while more than 210 people across Central America have died. Because of the deforestation, it removed the protective cover of vegetation that anchors soils and slows water runoff. Rains mix with soil and rock turn to mudslide. By the year 2008, Hurricane Mitch entered El Salvador on October 30th. Landslides were trigged by the Mitch. It killed 240 people, 19 are missing and approximately 59,000 were left homeless.

To prevent the similar deathly disaster, a program called USAID/El Salvador’s Hurricane Mitch Activity. It provided the country with different acids and education to rebuild the country. In the disaster mitigation, 3,015 community members with 48% of women received training of disaster vulnerability, disaster preparedness, and implementation of early warning systems. Emergency committees were established in 118 communities trained to learn first aid, rescue techniques, shelter management, and methodologies for the evaluation of damage and needs. Moreover, an important focus was the strengthening of emergency management systems at the departmental, municipal, and community levels. A diagnostic of equipment needs for the departmental emergency operations centers (EOCs) was carried out In terms of emergency equipment, 12 municipalities were furnished with emergency rescue equipment, 30 communities received emergency medical kits, and 10 local emergency committees were allotted emergency communications equipment. And 20 communities were trained in disaster preparedness. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) also developed a master flood control plan for watersheds, comprising specific initiatives for 12 municipalities.

Compare to previous storm, people who died from hurricane had decrease almost 50%. It shows the mitigation had worked well on people and people know how to prevent the similar disaster.

Resources: “Natural Hazards In El Salvador” William I. Rose, Julian J. Bommer, Dina L.Lopez, Michael J. Carr, and Jon J. Major USAID/EL SALVADOR HURRICANE MITCH RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETION REPORT

http://www.wunderground.com http://pdf.usaid.gov <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;">[] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/es.html