Hurricane Mitch developed in the Caribbean Sea in October 1998 and became one of the strongest and deadliest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded. Some of the details of the hurricane and its effects are summarised below. Most hurricanes which develop in the Atlantic Ocean originate from small disturbances in the weather over western Africa (known as tropical waves) which move westwards across the Atlantic Ocean. A tropical depression forms when the cloud mass associated with a tropical …showed first 75 words of 536 total…

…showed last 75 words of 536 total…It will probably never be known exactly how many died. As of 19 November 1998* estimates were as follows:- Honduras: 7000 dead, 8300 missing Nicaragua: 3000 dead, 2200 missing Guatemala: 258 dead, 121 missing El Salvador: 272 dead, 100 missing The economic cost of the hurricane is also huge and will probably be unquantifiable. However, with the change in landscape, destruction of homes, towns, villages and crops it is estimated that it could take decades for the economy to recover in the areas affected.