page_title: Hurricane Richard
section_title: Honduras
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Richard / Preparations and impact / Honduras
caption_attribution_description: No actual hurricane force winds on Roatan, though we did lose a couple trees. The effects of Hurricane Richard (2010) in Roatán, October 2010.
context_page_description: Hurricane Richard was a damaging hurricane that affected areas of Central America in October 2010. It developed on October 20 from an area of low pressure that had stalled in the Caribbean Sea. The system moved to the southeast before turning to the west. The storm slowly organized, and the system intensified into a tropical storm. Initially, Richard only intensified slowly in an area of week steering currents. However, by October 23, wind shear diminished, and the storm intensified faster as it headed toward Belize. The next day, Richard intensified into hurricane status, and further into its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane, reaching maximum winds of 100 mph. The hurricane made its only landfall on Belize at peak intensity. Over land, Richard quickly weakened, and later degenerated into a remnant low on October 25.
  Hurricane Richard caused an estimated $80 million in damages in its path, much of which was in Belize. In Honduras, damage was mostly limited to power outages and landslides. In Belize, most of the damage was attributed to damage to crops. Power outages were also widespread across the country.
context_section_description: Starting late on October 21, the Government of Honduras issued a tropical storm watch for then-Tropical Storm Richard, which covered the north coast of Honduras from Limón to the border with Nicaragua. When Richard finally began to head westward on October 22, the tropical storm watch was upgraded to a tropical storm warnings; a hurricane watch was also issued for the same location. By 1500 UTC on October 23, the Government of Honduras had issued a tropical storm warning from Limón heading westward toward Puerto Cortés; the tropical storm warning also included the three Bay Islands of Guanaja, Roatán, and Útila. As Richard was predicted to brush the coast of Honduras just offshore, the tropical storm warning was upgraded to a hurricane warning.
  At the time Richard had intensified into a hurricane, it had moved away from eastern Honduras, and the tropical storm warning and hurricane watch was discontinued from Limón to the border with Nicaragua. While Hurricane Richard was approaching Belize on October 24, the Government of Honduras discontinued all watches and warning that had been issued in association with the storm as was no longer considered a possible threat for landfall.
  While passing to the north of the country, Richard knocked down trees and power lines on the northern Honduras coast. Some power outages occurring in areas resulted from the fallen power lines. In addition, mudslides triggered by rainfall cut off an estimated 15,000 people in 40 small towns. Four coastal Honduran provinces were declared areas of maximum alert by the government after the storm. The offshore Bay Islands also experienced heavy rainfall due to Richard. Winds on the islands peaked at 58 mph (93 km/h) on Roatán.
caption: Blustery conditions on the island of Roatán, off the northern coast of Honduras
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