Hurricane Karl

Post Landfall 4 | Summary
Posting Date: September 20, 2010, 7:50:00 AM

After making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane just north of the port city of Veracruz at around noon on Friday, Hurricane Karl was broken apart by Mexico's coastal mountains. By Saturday morning, maximum sustained winds were down to about 25 mph. However, torrential rains and flooding cut off residents in coastal villages near the storm's landfall location; further inland, heavy rainfall damaged highways and prompted residents into shelters in the state of Puebla. Although Karl took a more southerly track inland than had been forecast, the storm caused heavy rainfall and street flooding in Mexico City. Civil Protection personnel had been dispatched to monitor cliffs and slopes in and around the city for signs of imminent landslides; they failed, however, to materialize. Karl was a very small system with hurricane force winds limited to a small area near the center. Observed sustained wind speeds at Veracruz' airport achieved just 46 mph. The heaviest wind damage was in coastal towns and villages north of the city. There, trees and power lines were downed and roofs torn off. Poorly constructed buildings--likely uninsured--were in some instances destroyed. On Wednesday of last week, Karl made landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a tropical storm with winds of 65 miles per hour. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the sparsely-populated southern coast, but little damage was reported. The AIR tropical cyclone team continues to assess the precipitation data for Hurricane Karl and have begun running simulations of the storm’s impact on Mexico. If results indicate that insured losses are likely to be significant, ALERT subscribers will be notified.

Post Landfall 4 | Downloads
Posting Date: September 20, 2010, 7:50:00 AM