A day like today, Hurricane David devastated the Dominican Republic.

Santo Domingo. – Hurricane David was the fourth named tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season of that year 1979. As a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, David was one of the deadliest hurricanes of the last half of the 20th century, killing more than 2,000 people during its passage, mostly in the Dominican Republic. It was a Friday, August 31, 1979, in the morning hours, when finally, the dangerous and powerful Hurricane David made landfall in the Dominican Republic.

The atmospheric phenomenon caused great damage to the country in all aspects, destroyed buildings, entire populations flooded, agricultural production destroyed and a practically devastated country, were just some of the consequences left by the passage of Hurricane David in the country.
This August 31st marks the 46th anniversary of that fateful event that left hundreds of families homeless and a sequel of deceased who still mourn their loved ones today.

The category 5 phenomenon, with winds of 240 kilometers per hour, is considered one of the most damaging in the history of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. David found in 1979 the perfect scenario to expand destruction and sorrow in Dominican families. More than 2 thousand people dead was the fatal balance left in its wake by this atmospheric phenomenon, with more than 600 thousand people homeless in cities like San Cristóbal, Baní, Azua, the National District, San Pedro de Macorís, Higüey, La Romana, El Seibo and Monte Plata, among other communities of the national geography. Hurricane David destroyed more than 70 percent of the electrical system and caused damage to dozens of aqueducts, including the one in Santo Domingo, in addition to the telephone system AND BROUGHT A SERIOUS ECONOMIC CRISIS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT Antonio Guzmán Fernández, with barely a year in power
This manifestation of nature was followed four days later by Tropical Storm Federico, which lasted six consecutive days of rain causing floods that destroyed a large part of the agricultural plantations that survived David. Hurricane David entered the country through San Cristóbal and Baní, in the afternoon, on August 31, 1979, and left the national territory the next day, through San Juan de la Maguana and Elías Piña, heading to Haiti. Then it lashed the western part of Cuba, Miami and other sectors of the United States, disappearing later, near Canada on September 8th.