Hurricane Paul (1982)

Hurricane Paul

Category 2 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Paul at peak intensity prior to landfall on the Baja Peninsula on September 28
Formed	September 18, 1982
Dissipated	September 30, 1982
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 110 mph (175 km/h)
Fatalities	1,696 total, 668 missing
Damage	$1.16 billion (1982 USD)
Areas affected	Guatemala, El Salvador, Baja California, Northwest Mexico, United States
Part of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season

Hurricane Paul was a particularly deadly and destructive Pacific hurricane which killed a total of 1,696 people and caused $1.156 billion in damage. The sixteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season, Paul developed as a tropical depression just offshore Central America on September 18. The depression briefly moved inland two days later just before heading westward out to sea. The storm changed little in strength for several days until September 25, when it slowly intensified into a tropical storm. Two days later, Paul attained hurricane status, and further strengthened to Category 2 intensity after turning northward. The hurricane then accelerated toward the northeast, reaching peak winds of 110 mph (175 km/h). Paul made landfall over Baja California Sur on September 29, and subsequently moved ashore in Sinaloa, Mexico the next day.

Prior to making landfall near the El Salvador–Guatemala border as a tropical depression, the precursor disturbance dropped heavy rainfall over Nicaragua, which later spread into El Salvador and Guatemala. Many rivers in the region burst their banks after five days of rainfall, causing severe flooding and multiple mudslides. Throughout Central America, at least 1,432 people were killed, with most of the fatalities occurring in El Salvador and Guatemala. Another 225 deaths were attributed to floods from the depression in southern Mexico. In addition, Paul was responsible for moderate damage and 24 fatalities in northwestern Mexico, where it made landfall at hurricane strength.

The precursor disturbance to Paul originated from an area of low barometric pressure and disorganized thunderstorms, which was first noted near the Pacific coast of Nicaragua on September 15. Several days later, satellite imagery indicated it had developed a center of cyclonic circulation; on 1800 UTC September 20, the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center initiated advisories on the system and classified it as Tropical Depression Twenty-Two. At that time, it was located 200 mi (320 km) west of Managua, Nicaragua and supported winds of 35 mph (50 km/h). The depression turned northward in response to a weak steering flow between two high pressure systems—one near Cabo San Lucas and the other west of Central America. It then moved inland near the El Salvador–Guatemala border, and dissipated overland.