Freak tidal surge, March 2008

On March 21 2008 a freak tidal surge with waves of up to four meters high causes strong floods and severe affectations in the Cuban city of Baracoa, the first capital of Cuba.

This tidal surge was arouse by a powerful migratory anticyclone that gravitates on the municipality of Baracoa, this atmospheric phenomenon it generated gradients of pressure on the territory and it generates strong winds, mainly in the north coast, with speeds from 20 to 35 kilometers per hour, these winds provoked the coastal biggest floods reported since 1982 in Baracoa.

The height of the waves, when breaking against the reefs, reached sometimes the 12 meters high, very superior to the coastal floods of the 12 and 13 of October of 1982, which were considered the biggest, before the construction in 1960 of the Malecon in Baracoa. Previously to the construction of the Malecon, the groundswell used to cover near half of the historical oldest urban center in Cuba.

Among the facilities damaged by this phenomenon, also well-known as tid (surf that spreads outside of the area where it has been generated) sea, they highlight an infantile park, the cafeteria of the Terminal of Bus, the artificial consultancy and the emblemático Hotel The Russian.

In the Hotel The Russian was damaged partial or totally the facilities of liquefied gas, the units condensadoras of the conditioners of air and the roof of the restaurant was lifted by the force of the surf, besides penetrating the water inside the rooms and local of the property.

In Baracoa were evacuated more than 800 people and more than 100 private properties were affected, no wounded or dead people reported.

The penetrations of the sea arouse by this tidal surge on March 21 2008 have only been overcome until the moment by the ones during the pass of the Hurricane Ike in September of the 2008.