Havana Cuba. – In 1932, Cuba suffered the most intense hurricane in its history. That phenomenon that devastated the insular Caribbean long before meteorologists thought to start naming tropical storms, made landfall in the south of the province of Camagüey with category five, maximum winds of 312 kilometers per hour and higher gusts. It was until 2020 the only hurricane of its kind formed in the Atlantic, in the month of November.
The strong winds, together with the swells and the torrential rains, left considerable damage in a good part of the East and Center of the Island. The fishing town of Holy Cross of the South, in Camagüey, was wiped off the map. Few buildings were left standing, all damaged. It is estimated that around 3,000 people lost their lives and there were material damages worth 20 million dollars, equivalent to 794.4 million USD today.
The destruction was such that to this day the hurricane is remembered with the name of that town, where the sea penetrated 20 kilometers inland, and the waves reached 21 feet in height. For Cuba it has been the deadliest hurricane on record.
In the recent history of the Island, hurricanes Charley and Iván (2004); Dennys, Rita and Wilma (2005); Gustav, Ike and Paloma (2008); Matthew (2016) and Irma (2017), all category four and five, have been the most devastating. In the case of Hurricane Paloma, it is interesting to note that it entered Cuban soil on November 8, 2008 through the town of Santa Cruz del Sur (Camagüey), a few hours after the 76th anniversary of the meteorological catastrophe that occurred in 1932.
With winds of 195 kilometers per hour and higher gusts, Paloma became a frightening deja vu which caused severe damage in the Camagüey coast, although no loss of human life was recorded.
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