Tropical Storm Cindy

Tropical Storm Cindy was a weak but unusually wet Atlantic tropical cyclone that caused disastrous floods and mudslides across Martinique in August 1993.

A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain.

Martinique is an insular region of France located in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of 1,128 square kilometres and a population of 385,551 inhabitants as of January 2013.

Forming east of the island, Cindy became the annual hurricane season's third named storm on August 14.

Due to unfavorable atmospheric conditions, the storm remained disorganized throughout its journey across the northeastern Caribbean Sea.

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere.

After attaining maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, Cindy began to weaken from interaction with the high terrain of Hispaniola.

The maximum sustained wind associated with a tropical cyclone is a common indicator of the intensity of the storm.

Hispaniola is the 22nd-largest island in the world, located in the Caribbean island group, the Greater Antilles.

It made landfall in the Dominican Republic as a tropical depression on August 16, and dissipated over the territory the following day.

The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region.

Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is a sovereign island country.

Despite its poor cloud and wind structure, Cindy dropped torrential rain over portions of the northeastern Caribbean.

The island of Martinique received a record 12 inches of rain over a 24-hour period, affecting many northern villages and communes.

A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, often having common values and beliefs, as well as shared property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income and assets.

Le Prêcheur in particular was devastated by an extensive debris flow, which washed away entire structures.

Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors.

Le Prêcheur is a village and commune in the French overseas department of Martinique.

The disaster left two people dead and hundreds homeless on the island, and wrought $19 million in damage.

En route to Hispaniola, Cindy affected the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with rough surf and moderate rain.

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and formerly known as and sometimes called Porto Rico, is the largest insular territory of the United States, and it is located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea.

The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Heavy downpours and flooding killed two people in the Dominican Republic, though the exact extent of the damage there is unknown.