page_title: Hurricane Gert
section_title: Nicaragua
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Gert / Impact / Nicaragua
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Lake Nicaragua and its vicinity
context_page_description: Hurricane Gert was a large tropical cyclone that caused extensive flooding and mudslides throughout Central America and Mexico in September 1993. The seventh named storm and third hurricane of the annual hurricane season, Gert originated as a tropical depression from a tropical wave over the southwestern Caribbean Sea on September 14. The next day, the cyclone briefly attained tropical storm strength before moving ashore in Nicaragua and proceeding through Honduras. It reorganized into a tropical storm over the Gulf of Honduras on September 17, but weakened back to a depression upon crossing the Yucatán Peninsula. Once over the warm waters of the Bay of Campeche, Gert quickly strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane by September 20. The hurricane made a final landfall on the Gulf Coast of Mexico near Tuxpan, Veracruz, with peak winds of 100 mph. The rugged terrain disrupted the cyclone's structure; Gert entered the Pacific Ocean as a depression near the state of Nayarit on September 21, where it briefly redeveloped a few strong thunderstorms before dissipating at sea five days later.
context_section_description: Moving ashore in Nicaragua a month after Tropical Storm Bret's passage, Gert caused excessive rainfall over already saturated regions. Despite striking the Atlantic coast, the storm produced the largest amounts of precipitation over northern and Pacific coastal areas. A maximum of 17.8 in (452 mm) fell at Corinto; other significant totals include 17.6 in (447 mm) at Chinandega and 17.5 in (444 mm) at León. The capital of Managua recorded 9.8 in (249 mm) of rain during the event. Sustained winds from the storm reached no more than 40 mph (65 km/h) upon landfall near Bluefields, though they downed trees and power lines and generated high waves of up to 12 feet (3.7 m) offshore. After weakening to a depression inland, Gert continued to produce moderate gales along its path through the country.
   Off the coast near Big Corn Island, rough surf and winds destroyed nine fishing boats. Two canoes with an unknown number of occupants disappeared at sea. Gert produced significant coastal flooding on moving ashore near Bluefields and Tasbapauni, prompting about 1,000 residents and hundreds of indigenous Miskito villagers to evacuate. Farther inland, prolonged heavy rain caused numerous rivers to overflow, which led to disastrous freshwater flooding, especially in departments around Lake Nicaragua. Three tributaries of the Escondido River, one of which rose 32 ft (10 m) above normal, overflowed near the city of Rama. Reaching heights of up to 40 ft (12 m), flood waters submerged 95 percent of the residential space, entering houses and vehicles and displacing 17,000 citizens. All crops in and around the city were lost in the deluge. In the Rivas Department, the discharge from the Ochomogo River near the city of Rivas inundated several communities, while Cárdenas, a coastal community along the border with Costa Rica, endured several days of flooding rains. Damage in the departments of Chontales and Boaco was considerable; floods in Boaco killed five people and affected 6,000 others. The affected regions endured widespread disruptions in transportation as landslides moved onto bridges and roads; in Granada city, the isolation caused sanitation issues and led to the death of a pregnant woman who could not be transported to the hospital.
  In total, Gert destroyed 252 houses and damaged another 293 across 14 of Nicaragua's departments; the storm was also responsible for considerable infrastructural damage and economic losses. As many as 123,000 people were affected throughout the country, and there were 37 confirmed fatalities. The impact on the ecology was profound: rivers, estuaries, and mangroves in and around lakes Nicaragua and Managua, as well as the inhabiting fauna, suffered from severe erosion and siltation. Since flooding from Tropical Storm Bret had occurred just one month earlier, an exclusive damage estimate for Gert is unavailable. The two storms inflicted a combined $10.7 million in damage, primarily to private property.
caption: Flooding from Gert was especially severe around Lake Nicaragua, affecting the region's ecology and inundating many communities, including the cities of Riva and Granada shown.
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