Hurricane Clarissa

Clarissa was a hurricane that struck Site B after the Isla Nublar Incident. The Worker Village and the InGen Compound had to be abandoned. After the hurricane the dinosaurs (which survived the storm) could roam freely over the island and a stable ecosystem could form.

Jurassic Park Series
Hurricane Clarissa only appears in the movie canon. In the novels or Trespasser Site B is abandoned because InGen was bankrupt, but in the movie canon InGen survived the downfall of the Park and therefore an explanation was needed why InGen would leave the dinosaurs behind at the island.

Clarissa is only mentioned during a conversation between John Hammond and Ian Malcolm at the start of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Hammond explains what the Hurricane caused:


 * Hurricane Clarisse wiped out Site B.


 * Call it an act of God. We had to


 * evacuate and the animals were


 * released to mature on their own in


 * the wild. Life found a way, as you


 * once so eloquently put it. For four


 * years now I’ve fought to keep them


 * safe from meddling.

In the script of the movie an other quote from Hammond about the Hurricane is found:


 * The hurricane seemed like a disaster at the time, but now I think about it was a blessing,


 * nature’s way of freeing those animals from their human confines.


 * Of giving them another chance to survive, but this time as they were meant to without man’s interference.

Chronology
When Hurricane Clarisse hit Isla Sorna is a subject of debate. It obviously took place after the Isla Nublar Incident because the animals of the Park came from Isla Sorna. In the movie Hammond says: "For four years now I’ve fought to keep (the dinosaurs) safe from meddling". No dates are mentioned in the movies but most data suggests that the Incident at the Park took place in 1993 and the events of The Lost World in 1997 (see this article for more details). From this data and the quote of Hammond most fans have concluded that Hurricane Clarisse struck Isla Sorna more or less directly after the Isla Nublar Incident. Some fans have suggested that the Hurricane could be seen in the film Jurassic Park at one of the computer screens.

In the original script however Hammond says: "About twenty-four months ago Hurricane Clarisse wiped out Site B." In this case the Hurricane struck the island in 1995. Because this sentence never made it into the movie most fans don't regard it as canon. But it could be that this sentence was only removed due to spacing, and that the storm was still ment to take place in 1995.

It is also said that the 1995 date is in conflict with the fact that Hammond tried to keep the dinosaurs safe from meddling for four years. But it is shown in the first movie that Hammond doesn't endorses his park anymore, it could be that immediately after the incident Hammond let the dinosaurs of Isla Sorna roam free but that he had still InGen personal on the island because he didn't belief the dinosaurs would survive on their own (for instance because of the Lysine contingency). But when the Hurrican struck the island he HAD to evacuate the island.

In the game The Lost World: Jurassic Park