easterly wave spawned a tropical depression about northeast of Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles. It moved northwestward, quickly strengthening into Tropical Storm Baker. Early on August 3, the storm attained peak winds of , and the next day passed about east of Bermuda. At its peak intensity, the gale-force winds extended to the north of the center. After attaining its peak, Baker quickly weakened on August 4 and turned to the northeast. Early the next day, it regained some of its former strength before losing its identity. Baker never affected land. Hurricane Charlie The third tropical cyclone of the season developed on August 12 from a tropical wave, east-southeast of Barbados. After a few days without further development, the system intensified into Tropical Storm Charlie on August 14, and subsequently crossed through the Lesser Antilles a day later with winds of . Shortly after entering the Caribbean Sea, the storm intensified to hurricane status early on August 16. Passing south of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, Charlie then underwent rapid deepening beginning late that day, its winds increasing in 24 hours. As it neared the island of Jamaica early on August 18, Charlie became a major hurricane and shortly afterward struck just south of Kingston with winds of —equivalent to a strong Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, making Charlie, along with Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, the strongest ever to hit the island. On the island, the hurricane dropped heavy rainfall up to . The combination of strong winds and the rains left around $50 million (1951 USD, $380 million 2005 USD) in crop and property damage. Across the country there were 152 deaths, 2,000 injuries, and 25,000 people left homeless; as a result, it was considered the worst disaster in the country in the 20th century until Hurricane Gilbert produced even costlier damage, though with fewer reported fatalities. After making landfall, Charlie weakened in its passage over the mountainous center of Jamaica, and by the time it left the island, its winds had diminished to . Charlie later passed south of the Cayman Islands, with Grand Cayman reporting peak wind gusts of . As it did so, the storm began to undergo yet another period of rapid intensification beginning on August 19. It regained major hurricane status late that day, and early on August 20 Charlie peaked at , equivalent to low-end Category 4 status. Maintaining its