Hurricane Gonzalo

Hurricane Gonzalo

Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Gonzalo at peak intensity on October 16, 2014
Formed	October 12, 2014
Dissipated	October 20, 2014
(Extratropical after October 19)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 145 mph (230 km/h)
Lowest pressure	940 mbar (hPa); 27.76 inHg
Fatalities	3 while tropical; 3 in the United Kingdom
Damage	Up to $400 million (2014 USD)
Areas affected	Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Newfoundland, Europe
Part of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Gonzalo was a powerful Atlantic tropical cyclone that wrought destruction in the Leeward Islands and Bermuda in October 2014. At the time, it was the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic since Igor in 2010. Gonzalo struck Bermuda less than a week after the surprisingly fierce Hurricane Fay; 2014 was the first season in recorded history to feature two hurricane landfalls in Bermuda. Gonzalo formed from a tropical wave on October 12, while located east of the Lesser Antilles. It made landfall on Antigua, Saint Martin, and Anguilla as a Category 1 hurricane, causing damage on those and nearby islands. Antigua and Barbuda sustained US$40 million in losses, and boats were abundantly damaged or destroyed throughout the northern Leeward Islands. The storm killed three people on Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. Gonzalo tracked northwestward as it intensified into a Category 4 major hurricane, the first in the Atlantic since Ophelia in 2011. Eyewall replacement cycles led to fluctuations in the hurricane's structure and intensity, but on October 16, Gonzalo peaked with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h).

After Hurricane Fay caused extensive power outages on the island just days before, residents of Bermuda were forced to complete preparations for Gonzalo in haste. Banks, businesses, schools, and government offices closed in advance of the storm, while the Royal Navy ship HMS Argyll left its post in the Caribbean to provide Bermuda with emergency assistance. The cyclone gradually weakened before crossing directly over central Bermuda at Category 2 strength around 00:30 UTC on October 18. Gonzalo battered the island with wind gusts as high as 144 mph (232 km/h), downing hundreds of trees and creating widespread roof damage. At the height of the storm, about 31,000 out of 36,000 total electricity customers were without power; service was not fully restored until early November. Many roads were impassable immediately following the hurricane, and in many cases the damage done by Gonzalo was indistinguishable from that of Fay. Bermuda Regiment soldiers and sailors from the Argyll took part in initial cleanup and repairs on the territory, and preliminary assessments revealed that the storm did not compare to the devastation of Hurricane Fabian in 2003. Catastrophe modelling firms estimated that Bermuda suffered up to $400 million in losses, and despite the heavy disruptions, no deaths or serious injuries were reported there.