greater antilles hurricane greater antilles hurricane rare late season tropical cyclone caused extensive damage loss life jamaica haiti forming large disturbance early november hurricane began minimal tropical storm southwestern caribbean_sea november slowly tracking northwestward system gradually intensified late november storm brushed eastern tip jamaica attaining hurricane status following afternoon storm landfall northwest haiti winds mph moving atlantic_ocean hurricane intensified attained peak winds mph november system rapidly transitioned extratropical cyclone following day absorbed frontal system northeast lesser antilles including rainfall precursor hurricane rainfall jamaica peaked extreme rains led widespread flooding killed people left million damage country worst damage haiti caused rains exceeding led catastrophic flooding people known killed country reports indicate hundreds likely died storm meteorological history origins greater antilles hurricane unclear believed begun large slow moving storm system near jamaica early november november classified tropical storm situated southwestern caribbean_sea north panama ship vicinity system recorded atmospheric pressure mbar hpa inhg slowly moving northeastward unusual direction caribbean cyclone storm gradually intensified forward motion system steadily increased november headed jamaica late november system brushed eastern tip jamaica strong tropical storm maximum winds estimated mph hours later storm intensified classified category hurricane saffir simpson hurricane scale afternoon november hurricane landfall northern haiti winds mph briefly moving land storm entered atlantic_ocean turned east northeast accelerated early november hurricane intensified equivalent category system attained peak winds mph barometric pressure recorded time peak intensity occurred water away ships initial analysis storm wrote storm peak strong tropical storm hurricane report stated difficult case author decide upgrade hurricane atlantic hurricane database analysis reached february storm designated hurricane november storm began weaken turned nearly east later day quickly transitioned extratropical cyclone absorbed frontal system northeast lesser antilles impact prior tropical storm precursor low producing heavy rainfall jamaica november rains fell system intensified neared country november system produced rain kingston extreme rains fell inches rain accumulated day period november day totals november reaching inches rainfall triggered severe flooding roughly banana plants lost result floods entire country yield kingston destroyed tunnels railways blocked landslides bridges roads damaged destroyed led towns isolated hampered rescue efforts flood waters town bay reached jamaica flooding killed people damage estimated million usd following severe flooding jamaican government allocated funds damage repair nearby haiti damage hurricane catastrophic torrential rains reported exceeded triggered widespread flooding landslides country initial reports haiti slow reach news media roads flooded destroyed days hurricane passage reports began indicate immense damage taken place storm city completely flooded nearby river overflowed banks residents sought safety flood waters upper floors roofs homes sixteen people killed city bridge destroyed swollen river near port prince topped banks nearby areas unprecedented flooding led creation large lake estimated long deep villages destroyed floods hundreds fatalities expected result storm monetary losses haiti following disaster scarce known damage estimate million true damage cost hurricane likely higher fatalities known result storm haiti reports state people likely perished storm fatalities took place victims identified
1909 Greater Antilles hurricane