page_title: Cyclone Chapala
section_title: Socotra
hierarchical_section_title: Cyclone Chapala / Preparations and impact / Yemen / Socotra
caption_attribution_description: English: Original description: "Streets were flooded after the cyclone, but after years of war and abject poverty, many locals say they are accustomed to attempting to live normally under adverse circumstances, Socotra, Yemen, Nov. 1, 2015. (R. Mohammed/VOA)"
context_page_description: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Chapala was a powerful tropical cyclone that caused moderate damage in Somalia and Yemen during November 2015. Chapala was the third named storm of the 2015 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. It developed as a depression on 28 October off western India, and strengthened a day later into a cyclonic storm. Chapala then rapidly intensified amid favorable conditions. On 30 October, the India Meteorological Department estimated that Chapala attained peak three-minute sustained winds of 215 km/h. The American-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated sustained winds of 240 km/h, making Chapala among the strongest cyclones on record in the Arabian Sea. After peak intensity, Chapala skirted the Yemeni island of Socotra on 1 November, becoming the first hurricane-force storm there since 1922. High winds and heavy rainfall resulted in an island-wide power outage, and severe damage was compounded by Cyclone Megh, which struck Yemen a week later.
context_section_description: On Socotra, over 1,000 families evacuated to schools set up as shelters. On 1 November, Chapala produced hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to the island. Residents described rainfall as the most severe in decades. Northeastern areas of the island were rendered inaccessible due to flooding, forcing residents to ride out the storm on their roofs. Chapala damaged Socotra's main port, and also caused an island-wide power outage. The cyclone destroyed 237 homes on the island and damaged 497 others, forcing about 18,000 people to leave their homes. Chapala caused at least 200 injuries. Despite initial reports of three deaths on the island, there were no confirmed fatalities on Socotra, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
caption: Flooding in Socotra on 1 November
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