depression near Colombia's Guajira Peninsula. Hurricane Joan's small size allowed the depression to remain out-of-reach as it developed. However, the outflow of the hurricane sheared the depression and sapped its energy. The system gradually dissipated on October 21 while Joan was experiencing rapid strengthening just before its arrival on the coast of Nicaragua. The depression brought heavy rain to the Netherlands Antilles. News reports blamed Tropical Depression Eighteen and other tropical systems for bringing swarms of pink locusts from Africa to Trinidad and other Caribbean nations. Tropical Storm Keith The last storm of the season formed from a tropical wave on November 17 to the south of Haiti. It moved westward through the Caribbean and became organized enough to attain tropical storm status on November 20. Keith rapidly organized and peaked with winds of before making landfall on the northeastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula on November 21. An upper-level trough forced it to the northeast, where upper-level shear and cooler drier air weakened it to minimal storm strength in a pattern typical for November. Keith restrengthened over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and struck near Sarasota, Florida, on November 23. After crossing the state, it became extratropical on November 24 near Bermuda and became an intense extratropical system over the Atlantic with sustained winds of minimal hurricane force. Early in its duration Keith produced moderate to heavy rainfall in Honduras, Jamaica, and Cuba. Minimal damage was reported in Mexico, still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Gilbert two months earlier. Keith, the last of four named tropical cyclones to hit the United States during the season, produced moderate rainfall, a rough storm surge, and gusty winds across central Florida. Overall damage was widespread but fairly minor, totaling about $7.3 million. Damage near the coast occurred mainly from storm surge and beach erosion, while damage further inland was limited to flooding and downed trees and power lines. No fatalities were reported. Storm names The following names were used for named storms that formed in the north Atlantic in 1988. The names not retired from this list were used again in the 1994 season. This is the same list used for the 1982 season. Storms were named Gilbert, Isaac, Joan and Keith for the first (and only, in the cases of Gilbert and Joan) time in 1988. Florence and Helene were not used in 1982 but had been used in