Dominica

Historical disasters in Dominica

Compiled by: C.J. van Westen

Last updated: 09-02-2016

The preliminary results of the data collection on disaster events are presented in this section and all data are aggregated into a single table below. The data covers a long period starting in the 18th century. For many of the historical events it was possible to reconstruct the date of occurrence. The table also indicates for the various events whether there were indications of landslide occurrence, and if so whether the location of the landslides are known. Unfortunately this is not the case for most of the events. We believe that this catalogue is the most comprehensive that was made for the country until now, and hope it will be updated whenever new events occur.

Table: Historical disaster events in Dominica collected from different sources (NI = No Information). C = casualties. Red records have landslides reported.

Year	Day	Events	Reported incidents	Landslide Location known?	C
1764	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1766	October	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1769	26/07/1769	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1772	30/08/1772	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1776	06/09/1776	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1780	09/10/1780	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1787	03/08/1787	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	Also on August 23 and 29	Unknown
1792	01/08/1792	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1806	09/09/1806	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	Landslides and Flooding. hurricane struck the island In the 1806 hurricane 131 people died mainly as a result of the Roseau river shifting its course and flooding the capital	Unknown	131
1813	23/07/1813	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	Flooding. Tidal wave	Unknown
1813	25/08/1813	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	Flooding of Roseau to a depth of 10 ft.	Unknown
1815	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1816	15/08/1816	Earthquake	5 Richter scale
1817	21/10/1817	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1818	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1819	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1820	26/09/1820	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1826	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1834	10/09/1834	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1834	20/09/1834	Hurricane	Landslides and Flooding. Very severe event, like Hurricane David	Unknown	200
1838	??/06/1838	Earthquake	5 on Richter scale
1839	21/09/1839	Earthquake	5 on Richter scale
1843	08/02/1843	Earthquake	IX Richter scale ?? probably mean IX on Mercalli scale, althought hey also report VIII intensity. Several walls and chimneys fell down, many wall cracked. In the North at Londonderry and Melville HJall many sugar mills were destroyed. Melville hall, river sanks with several inches and was diverted 20 feet south. Mountains were visible crumbling away.		1
1844	10/01/1844	Earthquake	5 on Richter scale. Experienced in all windward islands
1845	17/12/1845	Earthquake	5 on Richter scale
1847	16/08/1847	Earthquake	5 on Richter scale
1849	19/04/1849	Earthquake	VIII on Richter (?) probably Mercalli scale. Severe shock, especially in Grand Bay. Geneva estate and Bericoa estate the mill house and chimney were damaged.
1851	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1872	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1876	NI	Hurricane / Tropical storm?	NI	Unknown
1878	NI	Tropical storm	NI
1879	10/09/1879	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1880	NI	Volcanic	Phreatic eruption of Valley of Desolation/Watt Mountain Complex
1883	04/09/1883	Hurricane	125mph winds from the ESE just south	Unknown
1889	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1891	18/08/1891	Hurricane	125mph from the S.E	Unknown
1893	15/08/1893	Hurricane	80mph from the S.E	Unknown
1893	17/02/1893	Earthquake swarm	From 17/02 to 18/03 a serious of shocks in the northern part of Dominica. No damage reported
1894	20/09/1894	Hurricane	115mph from the ESE	Unknown
1896	30/08/1896	Hurricane	80mph from the S.E	Unknown
1899	07/08/1899	Hurricane	145mph winds just north while moving WNW	Unknown
1901	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1903	07/03/1903	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1903	07/03/1903	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1905	30/03/1905	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1906	16/02/1905	Earthquake	6 on Richter (?) scale
1907	22/08/1905	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1908	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1912	08/02/1912	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1914	03/10/1914	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1916	28/08/1916	Hurricane	Landslides and Flooding. a strengthening tropical storm becomes a hurricane 85mph from the east. The hurricane advanced over the island with but little warning; a number of lives were lost and much property was destroyed on the northern and eastern sides It was evidently of small diameter and great intensity while passing over Dominica. 200 buildings destroyed. 8 ships lost	Unknown	50
1917	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1920	NI	NI	Landslides and Flooding	Unknown
1921	12/05/1921	Earthquake	5 on Richter (?) scale
1921	NI	Hurricane	NI	Unknown
1924	04/10/1924	Rainfall event	Trafalgar, landslide killed 7 persons	Location more or less known	7
1926	24-7-1926	Hurricane	Landslides and Flooding. Road blocked, serious damage to electric and telephone system	Unknown
1927	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1928	12-9-1928	Hurricane	125mph winds just north from the ESE. Sea front damaged. Extensive damage to buildings and cultivation. Damage estimated 66,000 Pounds. Dissatisfaction over Hurricane Relief Fund distribution.	Unknown
1930	1-9-1930	Hurricane	Landslides and Flooding. 90mph winds hit the area from the east. Whole year crop lost. 60% of estates uprooted. 1000 houses destroyed, 850 damaged. All services out of action. All fruit trees were gone. Very high waves causing large damage in coastal area. E.g. Mahaut estate. Plantations went bankrupt.	Unknown	200
1933	04/02/1935	Earthquake	4 on Richter (?) scale
1934	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1945	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1946	21/05/1946	Earthquake	6 on Richter (?) scale
1948	NI	Tropical Storms	Landslides and Flooding	Unknown
1949	??/09/-49	Tropical Storms	NI	Unknown	20
1951	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1953	19/03/1953	Earthquake	6 on Richter (?) scale.
1955	??/09/1955	Hurricane Janet	Ni	Unknown
1956	11/08/1956	Hurricane	95mph from the ESE
1958	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1960	NI	NI	Landslide Bellevue Chopin	Location known
1963	28-9-1963	Hurricane Edith	Landslides and Flooding. area gets 80mph gusts Destroyed 50% of all fruit bearing trees,	Unknown
1964	22/08/1964	Hurricane Cleo	passes just north from the ESE with 130mph winds
1964	?	Fire	No information
1966	??/06/1966	Tropical Storms	Landslides and Flooding. 10,000 Pound aid	Unknown
1966	27/09/1966	Hurricane Inez	hits from the east with 125mph winds just north
1967	11/11/1967	Rainfall event	Landslide Boetica killing 5 persons	Location known	5
1970	20-8-1970	Hurricane Dorothy	Landslides and Flooding. Mostly wind damage. North and East hit mostly. South and central area had river flooding. EC 1.5 million loss in production of bananas.	Unknown
1970	?	Drought	Drought is reported each year from 1970 to 1975
1977	22/09/1977	NI	Landslide (Bagatelle Disaster) killed 11 persons. Disrupts the village of Bagatelle and temporarily cuts road access to Petite Savanne.	Location known	11
1979	29-8-1979	Hurricane David (Category 5)	caused 42 - 56 casualties, 3000 people needed medical attention, and made 75000 persons homeless, 12 % destroyed (2000 units) 50% severely damaged (8000 units) and 22% moderately damaged. The total estimated damage was over EC$ 53.8 million. 150 mph wind speed lasting 6 hours.	Bad map only	42
1979	01/09/1979	Hurricane Frederick	Damage mixed with the one from Hurricane David that happened shortly before	Unknown
1980	04/08/1980	Hurricane Allen (Cat1)	NI	Unknown
1981	NI	Tropical storm	NI	Unknown
1983	NI	NI	Landslide Bellevue Chopin	Location known
1984	NI	NI	Landslides	Unknown
1984	6-11-1984	Hurricane Klaus	Landslide at Bellevue Chopin killed 1 person temporarily blocked road access to the south and south-eastern communities from Bellevue Chopin to Petite Savanne, including Grand Bay.	Location known	1
1986	12-11-1986	Several days of heavy rainfall	Landslide Good Hope happened on 12 November, And killed 1 person. Landslide Castle Bruce cuts road access to part of Good Hope village, and to San Sauveur and Petite Soufriere; disrupts way of life of these communities.	Location known	1
1987		Hurricane Emily
1988	??/09/1988	Hurricane Gilbert	Landslides Matthieu and Layou River	Location known
1989	17/09/1989	Hurricane Hugo	Total damage more than EC$ 20 million, 1 person killed by a landslide	Unknown	1
1990	??	Landslide	Morne Micotrin Slide: Occurs in the form of a long, wide swath, from high up on the southern side of the mountain. Temporarily cuts access to Freshwater Lake, Boeri Lake Trail and Chimen L’etang. The rubble from that slide temporarily interrupts the flow of the tributary of Roseau River coming from Freshwater Lake, and creates a small, short-lived landslide dam and lake. Ti-Tou Gorge becomes very shallow (temporarily) due to sediments being washed from the small lake at the foot of the slide following the dam-break
1994	10/09/1994	Hurricane Debbie	2,800 acres of banana were affected by the storm. 143 acres of plantains, 355 acres of root crops and 355 acres equivalent of tree crops were also damaged	Unknown
1995	27-8-1995	Hurricane Iris	Combined effects as they occurred very close to each other. Flooding, Large landslides Mathieu River. They caused 1 casualty, and caused a projected economic growth rate of 4.5% to be converted into a decline of 2%.	Unknown	1
1995	4-9-1995	Hurricane Marilyn
1995	18-9-1995	Hurricane Luis (Cat 1)
1995	??	Landslide	Trafalgar Falls Rockslide: Physically and visually impacts the “Father Falls” at Trafalgar; buries the hot springs and pools. Pointe Michel / “Solomon” Slide: Mass of landslide material / rubble temporarily blocks off road access to the southern communities of Pointe Michel, Soufriere, Gallion and Scotts Head. Carholm Slide: Severs the Layou Valley to Carholm Road, and begins to affect the lower Matthieu River Valley. Its impacts on Layou River receive media attention only a year and a half later.	Location known
1997	18-11-1997 25-11-1997 28-11-1997	NI	Debris Flow Mathieu River. Two (2) major landslides within one week in November result in major flooding on each occasion, loss of agricultural lands and buildings, a dramatic transformation of the Layou River channel downstream, raising of the river bed. Resulted in the formation of Mattheiu Dam, Matthieu Lake, and two temporary dams and lakes on the Layou River. The way of life of the village of Layou is also impacted and temporarily disrupted.	Location known
1997	NI	Volcanic	Phreatic eruption of Valley of Desolation/Watt Mountain Complex
1999	18/11/1999	Hurricane Lenny	Landslides in the north, and severe damage to coastal infrastructure on the leeward side of the island	Location of landslides unknown
2001	06/10/2001	Tropical storm?	Mentioned in EM-DAT but not in other sources	Unknown
2003	NI	NI	Carholm landslide	known
2003	9-12-2003	NI	Landslide Bellevue Chopin	known
2004	21/11/2004	NI	Series of Landslides reported by Andereck in east part Grand Fond, Petite Soufrie and Mourne Jaune	inventory map
2004	21-11-2004	Earthquake	Earthquake 6.3 at 14 km depth. 50 km NNW of Roseau. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2004/usrcaz/ At least twenty houses damaged and power outages occurred in northern Dominica	Partial inventory
2007	NI	NI	Landslide Campbell	known
2007	NI	NI	Landslide Bellevue Chopin	known
2007	29/11/2007	Earthquake	7.4 Magnitude earthquake that occurred 36 km from Sainte-Marie Martinique. North part of Dominica was declared disaster area. Not clear what the damage was	Unknown
2007	21/08/2007	Hurricane Dean (Cta 2)	Flash Flooding. Soufriere Sulphur Springs Debris Flow: Major debris flow from the Soufriere Sulphur Springs’ Upper Fumarole Area on the night of Hurricane Dean severely impacts the Glo Gayak stream at Soufriere; results in heavy flooding and sedimentation around the area of the Soufriere School and playing field, etc. Playing field destroyed, and the village’s and school’s sporting activities affected.	Unknown	2
2008	??/10/2008	Hurricane Omar	NI	Unknown
2009	??/07/2009	NI	Flooding	Unknown
2009	04/09/2009	Hurricane Erica	27 landslides reported aliong the road network	Known
2009	19/12/2009	Landslide	Landslide along road to Scotts head, approximately 150ft south of Melvina’s Bar on the outskirts of Pointe Michel,	known
2010	10/03/2010	Landslide	Landslide occurred on the Laudat road which toppled a car and almost killed two people. It also caused a blockage and later another slide happened close to the Laudat Trafalgar	Known
2010	24/05/2010	Heavy rains Overnight	Saint Sauver Slide, which killed 3 residents. Also landslides were reported in other locations.	known	3
2010	15/08/2010	Landslides	Landslide on the trail to boiling lake. Trail closed	Unknown
2010	05/10/2010	Landslide	A landslide – caused by heavy rains – occurred early this morning at Blenhim in northern Dominica (just before the village of Anse De Mai).
2010	31/10/2010	Hurricane Tomas	20 landslides reported along the road network.	inventory
2010	09/11/2010	Landslide	The Antrim Valley land slippage, has caused a blockage of the river and a larger blockage might threaten the downslope houses. The main road keeps sinking	Exact location not known
2011	07/05/2011	Landslide	Landslide in Deux Branches area, along the road from Pont Casse to Meville hall airport, required the closure of the road
2011	16/05/2011	Landslide	Cliff collapse in Atkinson, caused 1 casualty	Not exactly	1
2011	28/06/2011	Landslide dam break	Heavy rainfall caused breach of the Matthieu Dam that was formed as a result of the Carholme landslide in 1997 and caused a massive flooding in Layou River washing out the Gleau Chaud Bridge	known
2011	28-7-2011	NI	Miracle Lake Flooding	known
2011	29-7-2011	NI	Landslide Soufriere	known
2011	03/08/2011	Ni	Several landslides along road at Dubique	Known
2011	28/09/2011	Hurricane Ophelia	Severe flooding in Layou, bus flooded, village flooded. 84 landslides along the road. 84 landslides along the road network	inventory
2011	29/10/2011	Rain	Road in Fond Cani area blocked by landslides	Known
2011	28/11/2011	Heavy rain	Many landslides were reported, e.g. in Dubique, Fad and Fond St Jean community, Castle Brice and Carib Territory, two major slides in the Penville area with blockages. Morne Jaune to Laplain, Reviere Cyrique and Grand Fond which were blocked. 74 landslides along road network	Inventory
2011	30/11/2011	Storm	Three families had to evacuate their homes in Petite Soufriere yesterday because of landslides and more than seven landslides were reported in Castle Bruce. Airport was flooded. Rainfall for several days.	Inventory along roads
2011	06/12/2011	Heavy rain	Flooding and landslides in Good Hope and Petite Soufriere. People evacuated. Castle Bruce: 7 to 10 seven major landslides. landslides had been reported in Grand Fond	Not exactly known
2011	03/08/2011	Heavy rain	Landslide at Dubique	known
2012	25/07/2012	Heavy rain	Landslide at Picard hit a powerline and caused power outage in certain areas
2012	29-8-2012	Tropical Storm Isaac	Landslides and flash flooding. Prime Minister ordered people to stay home on 22 August	Inventory along roads
2012	19/10/2012	Heavy rain	Landslide along road at Dubique	known
2013	23/04/2013	Heavy rain	30 Landslides were reported between April 17-20 across the country, including southern community of Petite Savanne, Dubique, road to good Hope, Petite Soufriere, Melville Hall to Pont Casse, and Pont Casse to East coast and on Emerlad pool to Castle Bruce area. Also flashfloods were reported. Two people were killed when the culvert was washed out near Pont Casse. 44 landslides reported along the road network	Inventory along roads	2
2013	20/08/2013	Heavy rain	Landslide blocking the main road between Soufriere and Pointe Michel	known
2013	5-9-2013	NI	Landslide Morne Prosper main road	known
2013	24-12-2013	Christmas Eve trough	landsides and Flooding. Flooding in places like Beau Bois, Castle Comfort, and some parts of Newtown Two slides happened on the hiking trail: along section 13 (Penville to Capuchin). segment one of the Waitukubuli National Trail at the summit of Morne Crabier	Inventory along roads, image interpreted inventory
2014	07/01/2014	Landslide	Landslide on road near Mero	Not known
2014	16/01/2014	Landslide	Two slides happened	Not known
2014	01/08/2014	Tropical storm Bertha	50mph winds	-
2015	27/08/2015	Tropical storm Erika	Total damage and loss of EC$1.3 billion (US$483 million), equivalent to approximately 90% of Dominica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The majority of damages were sustained in the transport sector (60 percent), followed by the housing sector (11 percent) and agriculture sector (10 percent). Out of a total population of 72,340 persons, 11 persons were confirmed dead, 22 missing, 574 homeless and 713 evacuated with approximately 7,229 impacted by the event in disaster declared areas.	Yes, UNOSAT mapped them from satellite images, and BRGM in field	11

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Dominica

Historical disasters in Dominica