Hurricanes that affected the Isle of Youth. Chronology from 1791 to 2015

With the objective of elaborating the Hurricane Chronology of the Isle of Youth, that includes the description of its statistical behavior and the analysis of the main quantified affectations, were used as direct sources of methodological and data information the updated Chronology of the Hurricanes of Cuba and the Atlantic Hurricane Database Hurdat2 (1851-2014). The hurricane trajectory segments contained in Hurdat2 were imported into a Geographic Information System (GIS), and recorded the specific dates in which they affected the territory, as well as their intensity applying the cited methodology and wind speed records. This result corroborates that historically the hurricanes have been the natural phenomenon that most frequently has caused disasters on the Isle of Youth, with major catastrophes being related to the impact of intense hurricanes. The detailed analysis indicates that the effects on the territory are concentrated in October, September and August, describing trajectories with a southern region component in their displacement. Between 2001 and 2008 it is marked as the period of the greatest economic losses documented. The most vulnerable sectors are identified: housing, agriculture, livestock, beekeeping, electricity and telephone networks, transport, forestry, tourism and marine - coastal ecosystems. It is shown that in the long term the frequency of affectations does not present a definite trend that indicates changes in their historical behavior, which, together with the enormous economic impact they have caused, requires a systematic educational work.