The storm made its first landfall on the east coast of Jamaica at 10:00 am on Monday, September 12. As it began its passage over the island the eye measured about 15 miles across. Wind speeds averaging 75 mph gusting to 127 mph, were recorded in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. As the eye exited western Jamaica at 6 p.m., it intensified further (888mb) and was identified as a Category 5 Hurricane, the most severe.
Jamaica’s last experience of a direct hit was in 1951-Hurricane Charlie. Hurricane Gilbert differed from Charlie in several respects. Unlike Charlie, Gilbert, traversed the entire length of the country. The eye passed over the Kingston Metropolitan Area . The loss of life with Gilbert was less than Charlie (Charlie 150 vs Gilbert 45) but the extent of damage done by Charlie pales into virtual insignificance compared with the horrendous destruction wrought by Hurricane Gilbert
After the hurricane there was no electricity anywhere and the factories were idled by this; few places had running water or telephone service. For miles in some areas it was easier to count the few utility poles that were up, thank the scores that were down. In some places, you could not even get around the count, because the utility poles and miles and miles of cables blocked the road, along with assorted pieces and roofs and fences, billboards and trees of all sizes. It blew the roofs off 80 % of the nation’s 500,000 houses, 100,000 of which could not be repaired. IT wrecked Jamaica Economically. The then Prime Minister estimated damage at 5,500 million JMD (UD 1,000 million.) UNDRO (1988) estimated damage at over 800 million USD.
Hurricane Gilbert was the seventh named storm of 1988.
- Hurricane winds lasted approximately 10 to 12 hours with the eye passing directly over the country
- Jamaica’s banana industry lost some 400 million in export earnings
- The entire 7,500 acres of the crop of export bananas had been wiped out
- Tourism and mining industry were also disrupted, a fact that gave rise to income losses and decreased foreign exchange earnings
- Hundreds were left homeless and thousands were forced to seek refuge in emergency shelters which soon became overcrowded. Many designated shelters were destroyed by the hurricanes
- Number of deaths was low considering the intensity of the hurricane, with only 45 dead in Jamaica and hardly any injured.
- It was the first hurricane that had direct impact to the island since 1951
- Flooding, massive food shortage. Floods were perhaps more damaging than the winds. Food stores and supermarkets were looted. Over 51.2 million worth of goods were stolen following Gilbert. Of this amount, police recovered an assortment of goods valued at some 2.5 million
- Under the special provisions of the Suppression of Crimes Act, the city of Kingston was put under curfew
- Many roads were blocked
In the Agricultural Sector Gilbert left 2.1billion (JMD) dollars’ worth of damage.
Domestic food crop losses stood at 767 million
Coffee: 210 million
Banana: 408 million
Cocoa 14 million
Sugar 150 million
Inland Fishing 20 million
Pimento 17 million
Citrus 35 million
Coconut: 150 million
Marine Fishing 25 million
Livestock sector 400 million (JMD)
Documents: https://goo.gl/EgjKLP, https://goo.gl/DzX9mh, https://goo.gl/r1NZMy, https://goo.gl/K7g1zL