Hurricane Roxanne

Hurricane Roxanne was the seventeenth storm of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. Roxanne is the first storm to be assigned a name beginning with R since hurricane naming began in the Atlantic in 1950. It was also the first hurricane to reach Category 3 intensity in October since 1961.

Roxanne formed from a tropical depression in the western Caribbean on October 9, and was initially expected to pose a threat to Cuba. However, it turned west and rapidly intensified to category three strength, and made landfall just north of Tulum, a small town near Cozumel, Mexico with sustained winds near 100 knots.

Roxanne emerged over water in the Bay of Campeche as a minimal hurricane, and then meandered in a small area of the bay for almost a week. It eventually weakened to a depression and moved inland into Mexico.

Roxanne caused 14 deaths, with five of them coming from the sinking of a petroleum work barge with 245 people on board. There was massive damage in Mexico across numerous Mexican states. This area had been affected by Hurricane Opal a week before and all damage could not be sorted out from Opal and Roxanne. Damage was estimated in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion.

See also

• List of notable tropical cyclones

External link

• National Hurricane Center preliminary report on Hurricane Roxanne