Haiti and Dominican Republic – NASA Records 300mm of Rain in 1 Hour

Haiti and Dominican Republic have suffered several major flood events over the last few weeks. Dozens of people have died and thousands forced from their homes after a series of storms brought torrential rain across the island of Hispaniola.

According to data from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), which is a joint mission between JAXA and NASA, powerful storms were measured dropping rain at a rate of almost 300 mm (11.8 inches) per hour on 08 May 2016.

The GPM core observatory satellite saw a line of heavy rainfall on the eastern side of the Dominican Republic when it flew over on 08 May, 2016 at 0428 UTC. GPM’s Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments collected data that were used to estimate rainfall.

NASA said:

“Powerful storms were measured dropping rain at a rate of almost 300 mm (11.8 inches) per hour along this line of storms. GPM’s Radar (DPR Ku Band) were used to measure the 3-D structure of precipitation in this area. Some tall thunderstorms north of Puerto Rico were measured by DPR reaching heights of over 16 km (9.9 miles).”

Data from NASA’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell over this area during the past week (May 2-9, 2016). The heaviest rainfall was estimated by IMERG to be over 300 mm (11.8 inches) in large areas of the eastern Dominican Republic.

Drought conditions throughout 2015 and the early part of 2016 threatened food security for thousands in Haiti and Dominican Republic. According to the latest bulletin of the National Food Security Coordination (CNSA), from July to December 2015, agricultural production dropped by 50 percent.

However, according to GPM, during the week beginning 02 May, 2016, Haiti and the Dominican Republic have almost erased the deficit of water with vast flooding.

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