Hurricane Season 2008 #2

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Tropische storm raast over Benedenwinden De tropische storm Omar heeft de Benedenwindse eilanden bereikt. De meeste scholen zijn gesloten en bedrijven en winkels hebben de deuren dichtgedaan voor het wassende water. Op Curaçao is de stroomvoorziening deels uitgevallen.

Op alle eilanden spat langs de kust het bruine, kolkende zeewater meters omhoog. Golven van twee meter slaan er tegen de branding.

In Kralendijk, de hoofdstad van Bonaire, heeft Omar voor veel schade gezorgd. Tenminste een hotel heeft alle gasten geëvacueerd vanwege overstromingen. De op de pier gelegen bar Karel’s Beach is volledig weggeslagen.

Metershoge golven overspoelen de boulevard, die is afgezet voor alle verkeer. Wel gaan mensen massaal de boulevard op om foto’s te maken. De politie zegt nog geen meldingen te hebben gekregen van slachtoffers.

Op Aruba rijden bestuurders veelal stapvoets over de wegen. Bomen en cactussen zijn omgewaaid. Ook modder zorgt voor overlast. De brandweer heeft enkele straten uit voorzorg afgesloten.

In enkele lager gelegen wijken staan huizen onder water. In sommige hotels houden toeristen op de begane grond het ook niet droog in hun kamers.

Verwacht wordt dat de storm Omar in de komende 48 uur in kracht zal toenemen, mogelijk pas nadat hij de Benedenwindse Eilanden is gepasseerd.

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Op maandag 20 oktober 2008 15:59 schreef Frutsel het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Kuchkuch
Madagascar krijgt Asma op bezoek

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Strengthening Hurricane Paloma threatens Caymans 07 Nov 2008 18:29:40 GMT


GEORGE TOWN, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Residents of the Cayman Islands braced for Hurricane Paloma on Friday as it strengthened rapidly while bearing down on the wealthy British territory on a path that could also threaten Cuba.

"No one thought this storm would come in so quickly," said Levonne Johnston," a resident of George Town, the Cayman Islands capital, which was expected to take a lashing from the eighth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season.

"We are just doing whatever we can with the couple of hours we have left and then knuckle down and wait out the storm," Johnston said.

Paloma doused Honduras with heavy rains on Thursday, adding to misery in the impoverished Central American country where the U.N. estimates 70,000 people have been made homeless by recent storms.

It posed no threat to U.S. oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico on its passage northward but U.S. forecasters said it was strengthening on Friday and could become a "major" hurricane with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 kph) by Saturday.

At 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), Paloma was 60 miles (100 km) south of Grand Cayman and moving north-northeast at 6 mph (10 km), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Its top sustained winds increased to 90 mph (150 kph), making Paloma a strong Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, the Miami-based center said.

Rainfall totaling up to 12 inches (30 cm) was expected over parts of the Cayman Islands and its national weather service forecast waves rising up to 30 feet (9 metres) off the islands, triggering potentially dangerous coastal storm surges.

CATEGORY 3 POTENTIAL

The hurricane center said the storm was likely to become a Category 2 hurricane later on Friday, before possibly growing into a fearsome Category 3. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 storm when it came ashore near New Orleans in 2005 and swamped the vulnerable, low-lying city.

"The center of Paloma will pass near the Cayman Islands late today or early Saturday and be approaching the coast of central Cuba late Saturday," the hurricane center said.

Government offices were closed and the storm forced the postponement of a national festival known as Pirates Week, a major tourist draw. Many tourists already had cut short their vacations in order to evacuate.

"We're going to Cancun where it's sunny," said Steve Keith, a visitor who was married in Grand Cayman on Thursday night and had intended to spend his honeymoon there.

Paloma came in the last month of what experts correctly predicted would be a busier than normal storm season.

It was expected to hit Cuba after its brush with the Cayman Islands, though possibly as a weakening hurricane.

The communist-ruled island still is dealing with devastating effects from two powerful hurricanes that caused more than $5 billion in damage two months ago.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. (Writing by Tom Brown and Jane Sutton; Editing by Michael Christie and Bill Trott)

quote:

Hurricane Paloma strengthens, heads for Cuba 08 Nov 2008 15:40:40 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with details, quotes, new storm position)

By Shurna Robbins

GEORGE TOWN, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Hurricane Paloma strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm on Saturday as it pounded the wealthy British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands and headed toward storm-battered Cuba.

Paloma's eye passed just to the east of Grand Cayman, the main island and home to most of the more than 50,000 people in the important offshore financial center, but damage appeared to be light and there were no immediate reports of deaths.

"There is no damage to central George Town, where the bulk of the financial sector is located," said Cindy Scotland, an official with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. "So there is no reason to think there has been any damage in any way to the infrastructure of the financial services sector."

"The Authority does not expect any reports of significant, if any, interruptions in business," she said.

Cuba, already hammered this year by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, declared an emergency in central and eastern parts of the island, canceled all national air and ground transportation and began evacuating hundreds of thousands of residents.

Authorities issued an "all-clear" early Saturday for Grand Cayman but cautioned residents to move about carefully. Power was out in some parts of the island and the streets of George Town were littered with tree branches.

Paloma's sustained winds increased to 140 miles per hour (225 km per hour) early on Saturday as the storm hurtled across the group's smaller islands, Cayman Brac, home to 1,800 people, and Little Cayman, with a population of about 100.

Gov. Stuart Jack asked that the British auxiliary ship Wave Ruler head straight to the smaller islands after the storm passes.

"Paloma is now an extremely dangerous category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale," the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Category 4 hurricanes can generate tidal surges up to 18 feet (5.5 metres) above normal and their winds can tear off the roofs and blow out the doors and windows of small homes.

Hurricane Ivan had 160 mph (260 kph) winds when it slammed the Caymans in 2004, causing extensive damage. But the islands and their solid structures are considered less vulnerable than other Caribbean islands to the fierce tropical storms that churn through between June and the end of November each year.

Paloma doused Honduras with heavy rains as it formed on Thursday, adding to misery in the impoverished Central American country where the United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been made homeless by recent storms.

It posed no threat to U.S. oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

In Cuba, Paloma was forecast to beat a northeast path through central Camaguey and eastern Las Tunas provinces. It was expected to weaken before hitting Cuba as a Category 3 storm, the forecasters said.

"I don't want to talk or hear about hurricanes, because they have already driven me crazy. First one came through from the north, now one is heading here from the south," Camaguey resident Carlos Martinez said. "I hope another doesn't fall from the sky."

Ailing former President Fidel Castro put damage from previous storms Ike and Gustav at $8 billion and blamed global warming for the number and power of the storms this year.

In a written statement published on Saturday, Castro rejected any aid from the United States before it was even offered, demanding instead that Washington lift economic sanctions tightened by U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Dignified conduct will again be needed if the head of the empire, who has been the chief instigator behind the genocidal blockade against our country, were to again offer pitiful aid. It will most surely be rejected," said Castro, who has not appeared in public since intestinal surgery in July 2006.

By 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), Paloma was about 130 miles (210 km) east-northeast of Grand Cayman Island and about 140 miles (225 km) southwest of Camaguey, Cuba, and moving east-northeast near 9 mph (14 kph), the hurricane center said. (Additional reporting by Marc Frank in Havana; writing by Jim Loney, editing by Vicki Allen)