Historical disasters

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Historical disasters in Saint Vincent

Compiled by C.J. van Westen 

Last update: February 2016

The preliminary results of the data collection on disaster events are presented in this section and all data are aggregated into a single table below. The data covers a long period starting in the 18th century. For many of the historical events it was possible to reconstruct the date of occurrence. The table also indicates for the various events whether there were indications of landslide occurrence, and if so whether the location of the landslides are known. Unfortunately this is not the case for most of the events. We believe that this catalogue is the most comprehensive that was made for the country until now, and hope it will be updated whenever new events occur.

Table: Historical disaster events in Saint Vincent collected from different sources (NI = No Information). 

 

Day

Month

Year

Events

Information available

Deaths

Affected

Damage

Landslides

Floods


?


?


1718


Volcanic eruption Soufriere


Major explosive eruption. Unknown number of casualties


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1812


Volcanic eruption Soufriere


Major explosive eruption. Major damage to sugar industry


80


 


 


 


 


9


9


1874


Tropical Storm


Heavy Rain

         

1


1


1876


Tropical Storm


Heavy Rain for 2 days

         

16


8


1884


Tropical Storm


NI

         

15


8


1886


Tropical Storm


110mph from the ENE

         

30


7


1887


Tropical Storm


NI

         

11


9


1887


Tropical Storm


NI

         

6


9


1895


Tropical Storm


NI

         

15


9


1895


Tropical Storm


NI

         

28


10


1896


Tropical Storm


Heavy Rain

         

?


?


1897


Tropical Storm


Cyclone

         

11


9


1898


Hurricane


110mph from the ESE killing 100 people


100

       

8


5


1902


Earthquakes and volcanic activity


Soufriere volcano


Major explosive eruption. !565 deaths. Considerable damage to sugar industry.


1565

 

US $ 200 Million

   

16


10


1916


Tropical Storm


Heavy Rain

         

8


9


1921


Hurricane


80mph from the S.E


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1928


Earthquake


NI


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1939


Earthquake


NI


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1946


Earthquake


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1953


Earthquake


 


 


 


 


 


 


5


10


1954


Hurricane Hazel


hits just south with 80mph winds from the east


 


 


 


 


 


23


9


1955


Hurricane Janet


levels the area with 115mph winds press 28.90


122

   

x

 

30


5


1957

             

5


7


1963


Storm


NI

         

24


9


1963


Hurricane Edith


NI

         

1


9


1962


Heavy rain


Heavy Rain

         

26


6


1962


Tropical Storm


NI

         

17


9


1967


Hurricane Behulah


18'' of rain in 12 hours


2

 

US $ 4.5 million

   

17


10


1971


Volcanic activity


Moderate explosive eruption


0


2000


10000 evacuated


40% decline in agricultural production

   

13


5


1974


Heavy rains


heavy Rains

         

2


10


1974


Tropical Storm


Heavy Rains

         

 


 


1975


Drought in period 1970-1975


 


 


 


 


 


 


18


10


1977


Heavy Rains


Heavy Rains

     

x

 

19


10


1978


NI


NI

         

14


4


1979


Volcanic eruption Soufriere volcano


Moderate explosive eruption. No casualties. 20,000 evacuated


2


20000


Us $ 100 million

   

11


8


1980


Hurricane Allen


passes just north with 130mph winds on Aug 4th from the ESE


0


20500


US $ 16.3 million

   

1


5


1981


Tropical Storm


NI

         

8


9


1986


Tropical Storm Danielle


Landslides, damage to pipelines and hydropower projects

     

x

 

?


9


1987

   

0


1000


5000000


x

 

21


9


1987


Hurricane Emily


NI


0


208


5300000


x

 

?


11


1987


NI


NI

         

22


8


1988


Previous Heavy Rains


Heavy Rains

         

22


10


1988


Heavy Rains


Heavy Rains

         

28


9


1990


Heavy Rains


Heavy Rains

         

26


8


1991


Heavy Rains


NI

         

24


10


1991


Torrential Downpours


NI

         

21


9


1992


Heavy Rains


NI

     

x

 

29


11


1992


Flood

 

3

       

26


8


1995


Tropical Storm Iris


NI

         

8


9


1996


Incessant Rain


NI

         

 


 


1997


Earthquake


NI


 


 


 


 


 


8


1


1998


Torrential rainfall


NI

         

17


11


1999


Hurricane Lenny


NI

         

29


11


2000


Torrential Downpours


NI

         

4


10


2001


Tropical Depression Iris


NI

         

24


9


2002


Tropical Storm


NI


4

       

8


9


2004


Hurricane Ivan


NI


0


1004


EC $ 5 million

   

24


11


2004


Tropical Storm


NI

         

14


7


2005


Tropical Storm


NI


0


530

     

 


 


2008


Tropical Storm/ hurricane Omar


30 boats destroyed, damage along coastline


1


 


EC $ 5 million


 


 


 


 


2009


Drought


NI


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


2010


Drought


NI


 


 


 


 


 


29


10


2010


Hurricane Tomas


passes just north with 80mph winds. 28 % of population affected, of which 5% severe.


9


6100 1200 in shelters


EC $ 130 million (10.5% GDP)

   

8


1


2011


Landslide (17) and flood (21 reports)

       

17


21


8


2


2011


Landslide (13 reports) and flood (8)

       

13


8


8


3


2011


Landslide (2 reports)

       

2


0


13


3


2011


Flood (1 report)

       

0


1


28


3


2011


Flood (1 report)

       

0


1


5


4


2011


Flood

       

0


0


8


4


2011


Landslide & flood (2 reports)

       

1


1


11


4


2011


Tropical Storm , landslides


NI


0


275

     

13


4


2011


Landslide (5) and flood (39 reports)

       

5


39


14


4


2011


Landslides (7) and flood 39 reports)

       

7


32


16


4


2011


Landslide (2) and flood (32 reports)

       

2


15


18


4


2011


Landslide (3) and flood (4 reports)

       

3


4


19


4


2011


Landslide &flood (2 reports)

       

1


1


20


4


2011


Flood (1 report)

       

0


1


21


4


2011


Flood (2 reports)

       

0


2


23


4


2011


Flood (5 reports)

       

0


5


24


4


2011


Flood and landslide (2 reports)

       

1


1


28


4


2011


Flood

       

0


0


5


5


2011


Flood

       

0


0


16


6


2011


Landslide (2 reports)

       

2


0


1


7


2011


Landslide (1 report)

       

1


0


14


7


2011


Flood (1 report

       

0


1


16


8


2011


Flood (1 report)

       

0


1


22


8


2011


Landslide (1 report)

       

1


0


16


9


2011


Landslide and flood (2 reports)

       

1


1


17


9


2011


Landslide (1 reports)

       

1


0


1


10


2011


Landslides (2  reports)

       

2


0


25


10


2012


landslides


Boat bay, 3

         

25


12


2013


Tropical Storm, flooding, landslides


Heavy Rain 200 to 300 mm in two hours


12


17422


500 displaced


US $ 108.4 m


Million


EC $ 330 million


x


x


5


9


2013


flood

       

x

 

2


1


2014


Massive floods

       

x

 

2


5


2014


Drought

           

22


8


2014


Flood

       

x

 

12


9


2014


flood

       

x

 

 

 

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