Hurricane David - 1979

AlterEgo

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I remember this one very well, Hurricane David hit the south coast of the DR Aug 31, 1979. Our son was an infant, and we had just returned from DR. The story that sticks with me to this day happened near our house. Many of the homes there have aluzinc roofs, and are wooden, even today. Flimsy. Back then it was much worse. Many, many Dominicans abandoned their houses to congregate in the church, where they felt much safer. One man had to urinate, and he stepped outside into the storm to do so - and while he was doing his business the church ceiling collapsed, and I believe everyone inside was killed. He was the only survivor.

This video was released on YouTube this week: Before, During & After Hurricane David:

[video=youtube;jBVN1k97zsE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBVN1k97zsE[/video]
 

bronzeallspice

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Mar 26, 2012
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Who can forget Hurricane David. A massive hurricane of winds up to 240 miles
per hour that unleashed destruction up the east coast of the US.
 

drSix

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Oct 13, 2013
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Is that the last really bad hurricaine to his the DR? There was one in the 90's that was significant also, right?
 

jstarebel

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Oct 4, 2013
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I was in Jacksonville, fl. during this storm on vacation with my family staying in a hotel on jax beach. We had to leave and drove to palatka to get a hotel. Jax beach boardwalk was completely destroyed as was the Ramada hotel we were staying in.
 

AlterEgo

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David was the worst. The beach on our corner lost EVERY tree, was totally bare. The devastation was unbelievable.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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That's "Georges" a female name.

David was bad, but nothing happened to my beach house at punta rucia....
I lost hundreds of acres of plantains and was pretty much wiped out. A few dozen acres of sorghum helped me through.

It was bad..The flooding of the valley was similar to that caused by Noel and Olga a few years ago.

HB
 

frank12

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Sep 6, 2011
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I was living in Bonao at the time (going to high school). I don't if anyone here remembers, but Hurricane David and Frederic were back to back--one after the other.

Not pretty!

Frank
 

leromero

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I arrived in Santo Domingo a few months afterwards. There was still a lot of clean up going on. The house my grandparents rented at the time was severely damaged and they had to move. I remember going to Jarabacoa and it was an adventure trying to get into town. I think I remember the bridge going into town was washed away. Also a lot of erosion along the coast. Balaguer built sidewalks and little parks along the coast. It was sad to see all that destroyed.
 

frank12

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Sep 6, 2011
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My father and godfather were on their way to La Vega at night during hurricane David, 1979. My mother, brother, and i were staying at a hotel in Bonao called Viejo Madrid.

My father & godfather took the highway to La Vega--this was the original, old highway 1 (Duarte). There were two or three bridges that separated La Vega from Bonao back in 1979. While they were crossing one of the bridges at night, it was raining hard and they could not see far ahead. My father screamed to stop the truck (he saw what looked like people up ahead waving madly to go back). when my godfather slammed on his brakes, his truck slid over the western section of bridge that had been washed away.

Two bolts stopped the truck from sliding into a raging river below. they climbed out of the truck's windows and walked back--heading east back to Bonao. When they got back to the hotel, they explained to me and my family what had just happened. The next day they went back to retrieve the truck. Guess what? The eastern section of bridge had been washed away during the evening. The only part standing was the middle section--where the truck was still holding on by a couple of bolts.

Journalist and newspapers came out and took pictures of the truck hanging onto the small section of bridge not yet washed away. It made the front page papers on at least one major newspaper (i would pay to have that picture!!). My godfather waited for 3 to 4 weeks before they fixed one end of the bridge and retrieved his truck. He got his truck back and drove home using Kerosene as fuel (there was a fuel shortage).

True Story

Frank
 
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bachata

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I WILL NOT forget this experience never in my life, I was living in SD at this time. I saw with own eyes all the destruction this monster hurricane left in the DR.

JJ
 

chrisrose97

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May 2, 2010
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This was a monster hurricane! It remained strong all the way up and through NYC. It toppled utility poles in front of my building in Queens. The two mountain ranges in DR keep Hurricanes generally either north or south of the island. If the hurricanes gets pushed north, it generally means no harm, but if its south, like in the case of Georges, the hurricanes fights its way north all along the Central mountain range, lots of damage in SD and bonao and constanza as in the case of Georges, but none in Santiago or the NC.

David as I recall was worst case scenario, it hit the bulls eye between the mountain ranges and got stuck there creating damage all over the country, and to make matters worse it was a monster hurricane. My familiy and I moved to DR in 1980 and you could still see the damage to the trees and houses. I remember seeing the bridge near Bonao that collapsed. AILA was the only airport to fly into from NYC at the time. Totally horrific time.
 

bachata

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The whole steel structure of "Palacio de los deportes" was laying on the center of Av. 27 de Febrero, I saw a trailer container spinning like a fan and little V W Beatles jumping like a kid in front of my house....

I was 18 years old, crazy teenager pulling my hands out of the windows to feel the power of the hurricane... We was told to open a little bit the cyclonic windows on the opposite side of the direction of the winds in order to dis-compress the house...

I hope some like this never come to NC all the houses will blown away!!!!

JJ
 

bob saunders

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My wife was stuck in an apartment in the university district with 14 other female students for two days until her uncle was able to rescue her.