Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 12, 2013
Tropical Storm Cindy was a weak but unusually wet Atlantic tropical cyclone that caused destructive floods and mudslides across Martinique in August 1993. Cindy formed east of the island and became the annual hurricane season's third named storm on August 14. After attaining maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h), the storm began to weaken from interaction with the high terrain of Hispaniola. It made landfall in the Dominican Republic as a tropical depression on August 16, dissipating the following day. Despite its poor cloud structure, Cindy dropped torrential rain over portions of the northeastern Caribbean. Martinique received up to 12 inches (305 mm) of rain in 24 hours, affecting many northern villages and communes. Le Prêcheur in particular was devastated by an extensive debris flow, which washed away entire structures and wrought $2.7 million in damage. The disaster left two people dead and hundreds homeless on the island. En route to Hispaniola, Cindy affected the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with rough surf and moderate rain. Heavy downpours and flooding killed two people in the Dominican Republic, though the exact extent of the damage there is unknown. (Full article...)
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