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- - Jamaica - -

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For the most recent reports from Jamaica see this page.

- - - 2007 Hurricane Season - - -

- ODPEM Media Advisory 2: Handing-Over Ceremony of Hurricane Dean Assistance Cheque from the Jamaican High Commissioner, the Honourable Burchell Whiteman, to the ODPEM
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 10:47:20 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Media Advisory concerning a handing-over ceremony at our office of a Hurricane Dean assistance cheque from the Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK, the Honourable Burchell Whiteman:



We look forward to your coverage of this ceremony.

With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Media Advisory2_Handing Over Ceremony_Thursday, January 3, 2008.doc
Description: Binary data


- Powerful cold front to affect Jamaica
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 21:00:28 -0800 (PST)

It has been a nice weather here in Montego Bay and across much of Jamaica. Today (January 2 2008)it was sunny skies ,a few cumulus clouds drifting to the  se, winds for between 0 and 10 kts ,temperatures  around 28 deg c for most of the day.

The great weather will change dramatically tomorrow, (in fact since 7 pm the winds have started increasing now 21 kts.)All thanks to a Powerful cold front which has brought hurricane force winds to the Gulf Of Tehuantepec (Mexico), gale force winds to the extreme north western Caribbean, and gusty winds of 26 kts /30 mph / 48 km/h / 13.4 m/s to our neighbors in  Grand Cayman.
 
Below the news release   from National Meteorological Service Jamaica website http://www.metservice.gov.jm/forecast.asp
 
 
***
 STRONG COLD FRONT TO AFFECT JAMAICA *** 
 
 
A powerful High Pressure System, centered over the United States, continues to push a Cold Front across the northwestern Caribbean and towards Jamaica. 
 
The Cold Front is expected to pass over the island on Thursday but could start influencing weather conditions as early as Wednesday night. On approach of the Front, moderate to heavy showers are expected mainly across northern parishes. As it sweeps across the island, strong, gusty winds and lower-than-normal temperatures are forecast. 
 
While the showers are likely to decrease by Friday, the strong winds should continue into Saturday. Northern coastal areas and exposed areas of the hilly interior will be mostly affected but southern coastal areas could also be occasionally affected, especially on Friday. Wind speeds are expected to be in the general range of 39 to 49 km/hr, or 24 to 30 mph, while temperatures are estimated to fall by 2-3 degrees between Thursday and Friday.
 
Fishers and other marine interests are strongly advised to exercise extreme caution during this period of strong winds, as above normal waves of up to 3 meters or 10 feet are expected.
End……
 
In adding to what is said above, the cold front should be moving across Jamaica by 6 a.m. Winds for the most part should stay within the 23-26 kts /26-30 mph range
 (strongest along the west coast between 4-7pm) but I would not rule out a gust or two up to 36mph. Temperatures at sea- level should reach a maximum of 27 deg c/80 deg F and a Minimum of 18 deg c /64 deg F (Which is would be equally  to 14 deg c/57 deg F in Mandeville  at 500metres and 4 deg c /39 deg c at the Blue Mountain Peak 2,256m).Rain will be very light in the order of trace-2.5 mm in Western,2.5-5.0 mm in Central and Eastern Jamaica. 
Try to keep warm and have a great day
below surface map
 
n.b filled triangle=50kts
 


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- HAPPY HOLIDAYS
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:36:14 -0500
Happy Holidays to All from the rock
 
We are having the most fantastic weather in Ocho Rios - no-one could ask for anything better - Purrfect doesn't even begin to describe it.
 
Mild temps, clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine, fantastic sleeping weather, what more could anyone ask for to round out 2007.
 
Hard to imagine 2008 is just around the corner - seems like we were just waiting for life to collapse when we flipped the millennium
 
We are heading off the rock to the chilly north tomorrow to spend time with the family. Have ordered some decent weather for the time we are there - if not, this Mumma will be heading back to the rock faster than anticipated.
 
Best Wishes to all over this holiday season, remember the spirit of the season. Look around you there is someone close by who is less fortunate. Lend a helping hand - it doesn't hurt. In fact it feels good.
 
Sue M

- ODPEM Press Release #1 - Oil Spill in Ironshore, Montego Bay Contained
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:34:46 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1 concerning the oil spill that occurred on Friday, December 14, 2007 in Ironshore, Montego Bay:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_December 15, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- News Release "Olga"
  • From: cnichols at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:33:01 -0500
(See attached file: newsrelease olga.doc)

Cheryl A. Nichols
Training Manager
ODPEM
12 Camp Road
Tel: 928-5111/4
Fax: 928-5503

Attachment: newsrelease olga.doc
Description: MS-Word document


- Minimal impacts expected from T.S Olga
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:41:24 -0800 (PST)
Another wonderful day in paradise,but our great weather will tommorrow and Thursday be replaced by squally,messy waether thanks to T.S Olga ,but very minimal impacts expected here on the island. Subtropical Storm Olga has become better organized during the day today and has made the transition to a tropical storm (Deep convection and strong winds near center vs Sub-tropical  which is opposite. The latest recon data found that the maximum sustained winds have increased to between 60mph, not that far from hurricane intensity. However, it very unlikely that  Olga will become a December hurricane. The storm made landfall earlier this afternoon in the eastern of the Dominican Republic and is expected to remain over land for at least the next 10hrs or so as it moves to the west at 10-15 mph. Even intense hurricanes have been known to meet their demise over the rough terrain.

The greatest threat remains heavy rainfall. Flooding and mudslides for the same areas devastated by Tropical Storm Noel in late October are likely. Up to 10-15 inches of rain is expected for the mountainous portions of the Dominican Republic. Rainfall accumulations in Puerto Rico, which was affected last night and this morning, exceeded 10 inches in the mountainous interior.Here in Jamaica up to 2 inches of rain possible.
 
Below 11pm release from Meteorological Service of Jamaica
 

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 – 11:00 p.m.

 

BULLETIN No: 5

… TROPICAL STORM OLGA PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL …STILL EXPECTED TO WEAKEN …

Tropical Storm Olga continues to produce heavy rainfall over Hispaniola as it moves westward closer to Jamaica.

At 10:00 p.m., the centre of Tropical Storm Olga was located near Latitude 19.0 degrees North, Longitude 70.6 degrees West. This is about 600 kilometers (445 miles) east-northeast of Morant Point, Jamaica, or 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Olga is moving west at about 24 km/h (15 mph) and this general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours.

Maximum sustained winds are near 95 km/h (60 mph), with higher gusts, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 390 km (240 miles) to the north and east of the centre.
 
Olga is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression while moving over Hispaniola tonight and early Wednesday, and then move through the Windward Passage and just north of Jamaica later on Wednesday. Periods of heavy rainfall and gusty winds, along with above-normal waves along the north coast, are likely on Wednesday afternoon, decreasing on Thursday.

Small craft operators should continue to pay special attention to subsequent Bulletins and are urged not to venture far from the mainland as sea conditions will gradually deteriorate during the next 12-24 hours.
End
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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- Subtropical Storm OLGA
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:46:00 EST
Title: AOL Email


Subtropical Storm OLGA Public Advisory


Home   Public Adv   Fcst/Adv   Discussion   Wind Probs   Maps/Charts   Archive

000
WTNT32 KNHC 110232
TCPAT2
BULLETIN
SUBTROPICAL STORM OLGA ADVISORY NUMBER   1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL172007
1100 PM AST MON DEC 10 2007

...LOW PRESSURE AREA NEAR PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
DEVELOPS INTO SUBTROPICAL STORM OLGA...

AT 1100 PM AST...0300 UTC....THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR THE NORTHERN COAST
OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FROM CABO ENGANO WESTWARD TO BAHIO DE
MANZANILLO AT THE BORDER OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI...AND
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH FOR THE SOUTHERN COAST OF THE DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC FROM CABO ENGANO TO PUNTA PALENQUE SOUTHWEST OF SANTO
DOMINGO.

INTERESTS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS SHOULD MONITOR THE
PROGRESS OF OLGA.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 1100 PM AST...0300Z...THE BROAD CENTER OF SUBTROPICAL STORM OLGA
WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 18.5 NORTH...LONGITUDE 65.3 WEST OR ABOUT
55 MILES... 85 KM...EAST OF SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO AND ABOUT
300 MILES...485 KM...EAST OF SANTO DOMINGO IN THE DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC.

OLGA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 15 MPH...AND THIS GENERAL MOTION
SHOULD CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS.  THIS MOTION WILL BRING THE
CENTER NEAR THE NORTHERN COAST OF PUERTO RICO LATER TONIGHT...AND
NEAR OR OVER THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ON TUESDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH...65 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS...MAINLY WELL TO THE NORTH OF THE CENTER.  SOME SLOW
STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE CENTER APPROACHES THE
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.

WINDS OF 40 MPH EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 200 MILES...325 KM TO THE NORTH
OF THE CENTER.  NOAA BUOY 41043 RECENTLY REPORTED 1-MINUTE AVERAGE
WINDS OF 38 MPH...61 KM/HR...AT AN ELEVATION OF 5 METERS.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1006 MB...29.71 INCHES.  ST.
THOMAS IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS RECENTLY REPORTED A PRESSURE OF
1006.4 MB...29.72 INCHES.

SUBTROPICAL STORM OLGA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF
2 TO 4 INCHES OVER PUERTO RICO WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF
6 INCHES.  RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER
HISPANIOLA WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM TOTALS OF 10 INCHES. 
THESE RAINS COULD PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND
MUDSLIDES.

REPEATING THE 1100 PM AST POSITION...18.5 N...65.3 W.  MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST NEAR 15 MPH.  MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1006 MB.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 200 AM AST FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 500
AM AST.

$$
FORECASTER BEVEN
Better to be prepared than caught offguard...
One Love,
Tracy




- Invest 94 is heading our way...
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:15:33 EST
Title: AOL Email
Just want to make sure people are prepared in case it makes it here!!!
 
Here are some messages I have received this morning:
 
In a message dated 12/10/2007 1:04:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Bullwinkle41 writes:
I would say that you use whatever resources you have to spread the word that I-94 is on her way to Jamaica.
 
Best to be prepared then have senseless causalities. What applies in the earlier Storm Warnings for the Virgin Islands now applies to Jamaica.
 
It is not yet guaranteed to hit you but it is a pretty sure thing that some or all of the spin off will ... Max
 
Spread the word.... NOW
Here comes Invest 94/TS Olga
 
 
Western Atlantic:
Loop:
Caribbean:
Loop:
North Atlantic:
Loop:
 
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT:

Accompanying satellite image (pop-up, NHC)
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
500 PM EST SUN DEC 9 2007

AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAS BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED
TODAY ABOUT 550 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF PUERTO RICO...IN
ASSOCIATION WITH A SHARP SURFACE TROUGH AND A LARGE UPPER-LEVEL
LOW.  THE SYSTEM IS ALREADY PRODUCING GALE FORCE WINDS...MAINLY TO
THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST OF THE MAIN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS.  THE
SURFACE TROUGH HAS BEEN MOVING WESTWARD AT ABOUT 15 TO 20 MPH...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR
TWO.  WATER TEMPERATURES ARE STILL WARM ENOUGH IN THIS AREA TO
SUPPORT TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION...AND UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE NOT
ESPECIALLY PROHIBITIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT.  THIS SYSTEM HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO BECOME A TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL STORM DURING THE NEXT
24 HOURS...AND INTERESTS IN THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS...THE
VIRGIN ISLANDS...PUERTO RICO...HISPANIOLA...AND THE EASTERN BAHAMAS
SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM.

FURTHER SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED AS
NECESSARY.  FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...CONSULT
STATEMENTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE. 

$$
FORECASTER FRANKLIN

In a message dated 12/9/2007 7:04:33 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Bullwinkle41 writes:
Whew, for a week there I thought I was on my own  As if I cared ...

Lets identify the "who" should care about this?

Anyone from the Florida Straights to a point in space 100 miles Northeast of Antigua and Barbuda. If you don't know where that is your aren't near by and can look it up for fun. Hint, Leeward Islands.

The shirts haven't said it, I will, batten the hatches and hunker down on a South face of anywhere? At least for now.

The immediate dangers, well at least to some. High unpredictable winds, torrential rains, and little waves of 10 to 20 plus feet for the whole of the defined area along North and Northeast face. If you do not know which way is North, go to the airport and ask for the first flight North!

MY CONSTANT WARNING TO NEWBIES AND THOSE THAT JUST THINK IT TAKES A HURRICANE TO KILL YOU. FLOODS, MUDSLIDES, FALLING ROCKS, SWAMPED BOATS, PALM FRONDS THAT SPEAR YOU, WINDS THAT TEAR APART SAILS AND SURPRISES! DO NOT ANCHOR IN OR NEAR THE PASSES BETWEEN ISLANDS AND USE MORE THEN ONE ANCHOR OR GET YOUR ASS TO PORT SOMEWHERE AND USE A GOOD MOORING OR PROTECTED DOCK!

"IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A HURRICANE (GRRRICANE) TO KILL YOU!!!!! NUFF SAID.... Grrr

The "Nothing" is at 57 W and 19 N. It is moving more North then West though someone of the white shirts said it is on the move West at 10 to 20? It doesn't matter, it's there! Grrr    It is as if it swung North to let the Wedding go off without a hitch? See what money can do!

It is expanding to the West as cold air slips under the flow and very strong isolated winds press on to the Southwest .... Don't be surprised to see winds in excess of 40 mph....

These pockets of high winds are not reserved for the Leeward or Greater Antilles and Bahamas.  There are reported winds in the Central Caribbean Sea in excess of 40 mph also... Grrr      Makes ya wonder where did that come from? Who knows? Ask Momma Nature?

Cruisers and those on islands anywhere from Southern Florida to the Leeward Islands use all resources available to stay informed. No body every told you Mother Nature was going to knock on the door and say, Hello, I'm here to blow you off the face of the Earth! Tune into USCG HF forecasts and broadcasts of significant weather conditions, ship reports, and aviation reports. Access any and all sites that can provide satellite info or reliable reports such as www.stormCARIB.com.

Stupid is as stupid does. If you don't care and figure I can handle anything, take it off shore so your boat parts don't kill someone else! GRRR

Again, we all know that the grrricane season has officially ended. So What!!!!! The Leeward, Greater Antilles and Bahamas are in for a mini asswhoopen. Be smart, be ready for whatever and do not take unnecessary chances. Grrr

This system is going to do one of three thingys...
    Move out to the North (Unlikely)
    Move to the North of Puerto Rico and into the Bahamas (Maybe)
    Pass over Puerto Rico and into the Caribbean Sea (Maybe)

The split in the path is now. All affected areas are going to have a reality check soon with some big, some small local events? All depends on the water temperature and just what Momma Nature wants to do?

We do like drama right? Not me ... Grrr    Don't get tunnel vision! Is the threat to the Northeast of the Leewards or is it all ready South of Puerto Rico? Hmmm.

Don't look now but a new upper level Low is developing as I write, South of Puerto Rico.

The hottest water in the Western Atlantic is either side of the Windwards and along the South slope of the Greater Antilles. Hmmm.
 
For whatever reason I can't insert a photo at this time.. I will send it out very soon... Have a wonderful evening and day tomorrow, keep both eyes to weather, Max


I really hope this stays AWAY from Ja but we better keep a eye on this one!!!
One Love,
Tracy
 
 




- Tropical Disturbance 94L bears watching.
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2007 14:59:36 -0800 (PST)
 

Late –season Tropical Disturbance to watch for next few days

 

 

It has been a sunny, but windy day in Jamaica. Winds throughout today have been anywhere between 17-21mph. Winds of this magnitude are the norm for this time of year. Many Jamaicans welcome and see these winds as “de cool christmus breeze,” they serve as a reminder of the festive season (the few days we get relief from the sweltering sun). This occurrence is an annual one and can be expected during the months October –February .These cool strong winds are called northers and occur when cold, polar air moves southward from the frozen interior of the North American continent out over the warm waters of the Gulf.  This unstable cold air mass, when heated from below, develops strong gusty northerly winds with considerable cloudiness and showers.

 

Tropical Disturbance 94L (info from accuweather.com)

We continue to track a tropical disturbance that has formed to the northeast of the Virgin Islands. Currently, an area of low pressure can be found at 19 north, 56 west, which is about 650 miles east of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Thunderstorms are clustering around this area of low pressure, which is tracking eastward at about 10 mph. The water in this area is still warm enough to support tropical development, and the upper-level winds are not too strong to prevent development. In fact, some computer models indicate that an out-of-season development may occur from this feature over the next couple of days as it tracks steadily westward. Residents of and those with interests in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola should keep close watch on on this system's progress. Even if no tropical development occurs, this low will likely bring squalls to Puerto Rico and Hispaniola through the first part of the upcoming workweek.

end

 

The below link to latest model runs for the Caribbean

 

http://63.175.159.26/~mm5/00Z/latest00.html

 

 



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- Call for Papers (CFP): National Disaster Management Conference (NDMC), March 5-6, 2008
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 14:39:36 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached the Call for Papers for ODPEM's upcoming National Disaster Management Conference (NDMC), scheduled for March 5-6, 2008:



Please also see attached the NDMC 2008 Background Paper that provides more information about the upcoming Conference:



We welcome submissions from all interested persons within the themes of the Conference. Please feel free to pass this CFP along to your colleagues and associates.

With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Call for Papers_NDMC 2008.doc
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Background Paper2_NDMC 2008.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #1: 25-Knot Winds Force Sea Water onto Palisadoes Road
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:06:17 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached below ODPEM Press Release #1 for November 26, 2007:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_November 26, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Fell off the Planet
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:33:04 -0500
Greetings all from the water logged isle of Jamaica
 
It has been way too long since I last posted - things have been hectic, rebuilding data bases, recovering lost files, dealing with electricity irregularities, Careless & wortless lack of any form of regularity, and flooding - just to name a few items.
 
Had a couple of trips to the big land to the north on some sales & marketing outings, don't let anyone tell you they are all play - you need to come home to rest.
 
Anyway- the weather. Well now, what can anyone say about what is going on in the Caribbean. Max certainly keeps us informed with his "grr" reports and he is certainly spot on. Lots of rain, cool temps, plenty of wind. Hubby told me this morning that he was going to hibernate for a month and wake up when Jamaica was back to normal. I don't have the heart to tell him that there is nothing normal anymore - we are always getting into new t'ings on the rock - many times the technology is ahead of scheme of the day, so it takes a while to iron out the bugs.
 
We now have fiber-optic cable tv "FLOW" - have not named this new owner of the cable company yet, but we soon will. It appears to be off more than it is on at the moment and many of us are greatful that we have not yet committed to the fiber internet with them. Think we will stick with DSL for a while until they have the kinks out. Have to say that when it works, it is great.
 
The rains have battered us and we have had plenty of flooding, some areas are in sorry shape with many rural roads washing away. The new government has a job ahead of them,but are confident they can do the job. SO, lets hope rain soon stops and roads get fixed.
 
It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow -to all who celebrate Turkey Day, have a great one and make sure you eat plenty, to those who don't celebrate, just have a drink to toast those who do celebrate
 
Of course you can imagine the laundry saga going on in my house with the rains - we won't even go in to that event. We have a new addition to the family, poor thing doesn't have a name yet, so it is just called "meow, meow" at the moment. Yup, an 8 week old kitty and for the first week, the 2 bullish brutes who had never laid eyes on a cat before, thought they could terrorise the poor puss.
HAH ! Puss not stupid and a few quick swipes to the noses and some ferocious hissing sounds and large canines went running for cover. It really is amazing that just a week later, they all 3 are laying on the floor together, eating out of the same food piles and attempting to clean each other. Can you imagine if we could do this to the human race
 
Have a wonderful turkey day tomorrow
 
Sue m

- ODPEM Press Release #1: Rains Cause Flooding in Zion, Trelawny
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:10:12 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1 concerning rain affected Trelawny:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_November 21, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #2: FLASH FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FOR NORTHERN PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:52:33 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #2 concerning the weather conditions currently being experienced across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release2_November 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #1: Reports from Parishes – St. Ann, Portland and St. Mary
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:27:36 -0500

Good Day Everyone,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1 concerning the weather conditions across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_November 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #9: Bog Walk Gorge Remains Closed – Food Airlifts Organized for Several Communities
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 16:15:15 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #9 concerning the current weather conditions across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release9_November 2, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #8: Flash Flood Warning Extended to all Parishes of Jamaica – Flooding Reports from Some Parishes
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 11:18:43 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release # 8 concerning the current weather conditions across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release8_November 2, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #7: Flash Flood Warning Extended to all Parishes of Jamaica – Flooding Reports from Some Parishes
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 17:42:07 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen.

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #7 concerning the current weather conditions being experienced across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release7_November 1, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #6: FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT - BOG WALK GORGE IS NOW CLOSED
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 17:22:49 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #6 concerning the current weather conditions being experienced across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release6_November 1, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release Clarification
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 16:15:59 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

The earlier email and its attachment - ODPEM Press Release #3 - should actually read ODPEM Press Release #5:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release5_November 1, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #3: Flash Flood Warning Extended to all Parishes of Jamaica
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 15:56:50 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #3 concerning the current weather conditions being experienced across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release3_November 1, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #2: Landslides and Scouring of Parochial Roads in St. Thomas
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:51:09 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see ODPEM Press Release #2 concerning the current weather conditions across the island:



with kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release2_October 31, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- News Release
  • From: cnichols at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:25:02 -0500
(See attached file: newsrelease flood.doc)
Cheryl A. Nichols
Training Manager
ODPEM
12 Camp Road
Tel: 928-5111/4
Fax: 928-5503

Attachment: newsrelease flood.doc
Description: MS-Word document


- T.s watch lifted.nice weather day
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:18:08 -0700 (PDT)

Today was a very wonderful weather day-bright and sunny. The heavy rain expected never materialized .Luckily T.S Noel took an NW turn earlier than previously expected and with most of the rains confined to the north and east of the system spared us what could be a potential dangerous and deadly flooding situation. Sections of the island ,however could see periods of showers and thunderstorms which should be light for the most part.

 
Below Bulletin#10 issued by the metservice
 

Bulletin # 10 at 11:00 a.m.

*** TROPICAL STORM WATCH LIFTED ***

The Meteorological Service has discontinued the Tropical Storm Watch
for Jamaica with immediate effect as there is no longer any threat
of tropical storm conditions for the island from Tropical Storm Noel.

At 10:00 a.m. the centre of Tropical Storm Noel was located near
Latitude 19.9 degrees North, Longitude 73.0 degrees West. This is
about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east-northeast of Morant Point,
Jamaica, or 130 kilometres (80 miles) east-southeast of the eastern
tip of Cuba.

Noel is moving towards the north-northwest near 19 km/h (12 mph) and
this general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours.

Maximum sustained winds are now near 75 km/h (45 mph), with higher
gusts, and little change in strength is forecast today.

Tropical Storm Noel is about to emerge from Haiti over the western
Atlantic Ocean and is expected to move through the chain of Bahama
Islands later today and tonight. Periods of rainfall could,
however, continue to affect sections of Jamaica today as the storm
moves away.

Small craft operators are advised to remain in safe harbour until
wind and sea conditions have returned to normal.

This is the final Bulletin that will be issued by the Meteorological
Service on Tropical Storm Noel; however, further updates will be
included in regular News Releases.


-END-
 
e

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- Extremely heavy rain and possible life threatning floods expected
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 19:17:31 -0700 (PDT)
The rain has just begun after a nice sunday  here in
Montego Bay (Montego Bay is located along Jamaica's
North Coast).Mostly sunny and windy  conditons were 
present throughout the day in Western  and Central
Jamaica,but the heavy rain has already begun in
eastern sections. And there are reports that the
Yallahs fording in St.Thomas is impassable and several
streets in Kingston are already flooded.

 Many Jamaicans  woke  up to news that the sixteenth
Tropical Depression of the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane
Season had developed last night over the central
Caribbean Sea and is likely to impact our weather.

People  are  for the most part , unbothered with the
latest threat,been just a tropical storm and we not
expecting a direct hit .People should be concered not
with the winds ,as  the system will pass about 
250miles to our NE,keeping us well out of the range of
tropical storm force but the extremely heavy rainfall 
(8-12 inches expected,with up to 20inches in  the
mountainous interior)associated with  slowly moving
tropical storm Noel.

Tonight I am pleading with persons,If you know you
live in a low-lying or flood prone area, exercise
wisdom and don't hesitate to move if you notice waters
rising.

Below  Bulletin #6 issued by the met service
October 28, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.
Bulletin #6

*** NOEL NEARLY STATIONARY...TROPICAL STORM WATCH IN
EFFECT ***
The Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for Jamaica
as Tropical Storm NOEL continues to spread bands of
rain over the Caribbean. This means that tropical
storm conditions pose a possible threat to the island
within 36 hours.

At 7:00 p.m. the centre of Tropical Storm Noel was
re-located near Latitude 16.8 degrees North, Longitude
71.9 degrees West. This is about 470 kilometres (290
miles) east-southeast of Morant Point, Jamaica, or 215
kilometres (135 miles) south-southeast of
Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Noel is now moving very little but a general
west-northwestward motion at 7 km/h (5 mph) is
expected during the next 24 hours.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 95 km/h
(60 mph), with higher gusts, and some additional
strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours.
Tropical storm force winds extend about 185 km (115
miles) from the centre.

The forecast track of Tropical Storm Noel has the
centre passing over the western Haitian Peninsula,
east of Jamaica, on Monday morning before continuing
towards southeastern Cuba later in the day. Noel is,
however, expected to produce more rainfall over
Jamaica, tonight and tomorrow, along with gusty winds
and above-normal waves, especially along the eastern
and northern coastline.

Fishers on the cays and banks are advised to evacuate
immediately and start returning to the mainland with a
view to arriving in port by midnight tonight. Expect
sea conditions to deteriorate in showers,
thunderstorms and strong northerly winds tonight and
tomorrow as the tropical storm passes to the east.
Other small craft operators in coastal waters are
advised to return to port and those in port are
advised not to venture out.


-END-

For the expert information on T.S NOEL check out
Dr.Jeff Masters blog.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=843&tstamp=200710

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- A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect for Jamaica
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:30:10 EDT
Title: AOL Email
Praying that TD#16 does not develop more before it gets here but preparing for the worst nonetheless.
Super Plus in Liguanea was packed with people stocking up on canned goods, water etc so I guess the word is out and people are not taking it lightly???
Likkle more,
Tracy




See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.

- ODPEM Advisory: Handing-Over of "Shelter Boxes" to ODPEM from the Rotary Club of May Pen for Victims of Hurricane Dean in Southern Clarendon
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:41:35 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Media Advisory:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Media Advisory_Handing Over Ceremony_Thursday, October 25, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- fLASH fLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT,
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:23:53 -0700 (PDT)
It has been a very rainy day across much of Jamaica.In fact,there are reports of severe flooding in the parish of St.Thomas .we experienced little to no rain so far  here in Montego Bay,but we were the exception .Western parishes have yet,to experience the real heavy rains as the bulk of the heavy rainfall has remained over Easern Jamaica through much of Today.
 
Yesterday,A upper level low swirled it's way across us,the upper level low is now near Western Cuba,but has left a middle to upper level through in the vicinity of the island.The local weather service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for all low lying and flood prone areas of Southern ParisheS
Kingston's Norman Manley Internation reported 1.57 in / 4.0 cm/40mm of rain since this morning.
  
Below is the latest news of the current flooding situation from S.tThomas  source radiojamaica
The National Works Agency (NWA) has confirmed that several roads in St. Thomas are now impassable.

As a result access to some parts of Morant Bay, Seaforth, Port Morant, Bath and Yallahs, among other areas is not possible.

NWA's Manager of Communication and Customer Service, Stephen Shaw, says the Agency's ability to clear the blockades is being affected by the continuing rainfall.    

"The heavy equipment cannot get through these waters to get to some of these areas where we have landslipage so we have to wait until the waters recede before our teams can go out and do what is required. We are still trying to get some information out of sections of St. Thomas to include those communities in the hills so while we are aware of these communities more areas could be affected," said Mr. Shaw.

There are also reports of flooding in sections of St. Mary and St. Catherine.                                        
Below latest newsrelease metservice Jamaica
 
The Meteorological Service has upgraded the Flash Flood Watch to a Flash Flood Warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of southern parishes while a Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for northern parishes until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow.

A Flash Flood Warning means that flooding has been reported or will occur shortly. Residents are advised to be on the look-out for fast rising waters and to take precautionary action. Motorists and pedestrians are advised not to attempt to cross fording, flooded streets or other flooded areas.

A Flash Flood Watch means flash flooding is possible and residents are advised to check precautionary measures, keep informed by listening to further releases from the Meteorological Service and be ready for quick action if flooding is observed or if a warning is issued.

Rainfall over the past 12 to 18 hours resulting from a Mid to Upper Level Trough in the vicinity of the island has resulted in flooding of some sections of St Thomas. As activities associated with this Trough continue to move slowly towards the west across the island, moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms which may be heavy at times are expected to continue. The forecast is therefore for the island to remain cloudy with moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms over most parishes for the rest of today, tonight and into tomorrow morning. It is expected that eastern parishes should experience significant reduction in rainfall activity by tomorrow afternoon.

Fishers and other marine interests should exercise caution due to rough sea conditions in the vicinity of showers and thunderstorms especially over southern waters.
end
 
[GOES-8 Enhanced Infra-Red- updated every half hour - http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov]

 
Keep safe and Warm everyone.Have a good evening.

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- ODPEM Press Release #3: Flash Flood Warning Now in Effect for Low-Lying and Flood Prone Areas of Southern Parishes … Large Trucks (Above 10 Tonne) Not to Use Easington Bridge
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:57:08 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #3 concerning the current weather conditions across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release3_October 18, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #2: FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR LOW-LYING AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS OF ALL PARISHES ACROSS JAMAICA
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:28:01 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1 concerning the current weather conditions across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release2_October 18, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #1: Flash Flood Watch in Effect for Low-Lying and Flood Prone Areas of All Parishes Across Jamaica
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:38:46 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1 concerning the current weather conditions across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_October 18, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Jamaica battered by flood rains,200 persons rescued,40 in shelters,
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:38:09 -0700 (PDT)
October 11,2007 is a weather day,that will remain in
the minds of Jamaicans for many years to come.

 A day when more  200 persons had to be evacuated 
from their cars by helicopters,vechicles washed away,
persons washed away, numerous road blocks and
landslipages, exploding transformer, bridges washed
away, the capital city Kingston crippled exploding
manholes and thousands of persons right across the
island stranded in hours, and hours of traffic.

The day started out rainy, in fact it had started
raining from the overnight hours in many sections of
Jamaica, the moderate heavy rainfall,almost continuous
rainfall continued all morning,all day, all night and
it is still raining across many sections of the island
at this time.

That is more than 24hrs of almost continuous rain,
which was extremely heavy, with rain rates as heavy as
inches per hour/50mm per hour stretching across the
length and breadth of the island really  no location
was spared.

Official rainfall/temp information(source pan-am
temperature and precipitation tables)

AS of 800 AM EDT-24hour max&min temperature 24 HR
precip.total

MONTEGO BAY  Max. 85 29    Min 74 23     rain 2.73  
time period  24

KINGSTON     Max. 86 30    Min 75 24     rain 2.96   
time period 24

The airports seem to be at the lower end of the high
precip amounts as 3-6 inches of rain fell across much
of Jamaica.

Below are a few reports from across the island from
odpem

St. Andrew

Six persons - three adults and three children - from
the community of New Haven are now sheltering at the
Edith Dalton James High School. A Shelter Manager has
been assigned to the school and permission has been
granted to utilize the auditorium.   

St. Catherine

 Flooding has been reported in the community of
Hartlands. Approximately 2 ft. of water has been
reported. Residents are reporting that approximately
20 households have been flooded out. There is,
however, no need to provide shelter for them at this
time


Clarendon

 Arrangements are being put in place for persons from
Hot Water Lane in Rocky Point to take shelter at the
Wesleyan Holiness Church. 

 Capture Land in Rocky Point is experiencing flooding.
 

Hanover

 Landslides have been reported at Askenish. 

Westmoreland

Flooding has been reported in:

 Bamboo in the Blackness area
 Phase six of the Llandillo housing development
 Carawina in the Petersfield area
 Sections of the community of Strathbogie
 Several households have been flooded out in the
Ricketts River community in Frome.    Persons have
been relocated to the From High School. The
Westmoreland Parish Disaster Committee has assigned a
Shelter Manager to the school.

St. Elizabeth

The Middle Quarters Main Road is now impassable. The
alternative route is Craigie Road, with the entrance
at Charlie Gallant.

Below  is a summary of yesterday's happenings

200 motorist mostly students were rescued from the
Bogue Walk gorge .

At least 4 vehicles washed away,including a bus filled
with school children,luckily onlookers helped them
escape.

A man was washed away in his car he managed to escape
by holding to branches,however he sustained injuries
and had to be taken to hospital, another man was
washed away, while crossing fording ,rescuers spent
several hours searching for him ,he has not been found
and  his fate is unknown.

8 additional families are now in emergency shelters,
which brings the total amount of families currently in
shelters to 42.

Numerous roads blocked, landslipages, flooded
communities and 1 bridge washed away.
The parishes of
Westmoreland,St,Elizabeth,Clarendon,St.Catherine and
St. Thomas most affected.

Forecast
It is still raining across much of the island,but not
as heavy as yesterday. Water is still rising in many
areas   and with each passing hour there are more and
more reports of flood.The trough extending from Belize
- Bahamas-Bermuda is slowly moving nward away from us.

It will continue to rain for much of today,and
tonight. We should see major improvements  tomorrow, a
tropical wave should be in the area,early sunday,so
more rainfallposible .

Next week looks more seasonal partly cloudy with
scattered afternoon showers.
 

 below:1 pictures of bus which was washed
away(jamaicaobserver)
       2 flooding on a Kingston street 9source radiojamaica)


      
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- ODPEM Press Releases #9 and 10
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:26:14 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Releases #9 and 10 concerning the current unstable weather conditions being experienced across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release9_October 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Press Release10_October 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #8: REPORTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:10:34 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #8 concerning the current unstable weather conditions being experienced across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release8_October 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #6: FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:30:38 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #6 concerning the unstable weather conditions now being experienced across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release6_October 11, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release:
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:45:49 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #5 concerning the unstable weather conditions currently being experienced across Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release5_October 11, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Flash Flood Warning in effect,31 persons evacuated,reports of blocked roads,and landslippages
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:45:21 -0700 (PDT)
It has been a rainy very week across Jamaica, no part of the island was spared the bad weather, numerous reports of blocked roads, landslides and persons having to flee due to the rising waters. Each day, there are new reports of blocked roads due to debris, they are cleared It rains again and they are blocked again, luckily no reports of fatalities.
 
Below is the new release issued by the Met service
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
** FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL PARISHES * *


The Meteorological Service has extended the Flash Flood Warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of all parishes until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow.

A Flash Flood Warning means that flooding has been reported or will occur shortly.

The Area of Low Pressure over the western Caribbean continues to generate unstable weather conditions across the region, including Jamaica.

Today outbreaks of moderate to heavy rainfall occurred mainly over southern sections of the island. Projections are for showers and thunderstorms which could be heavy at times, to continue to affect the island and its territorial waters tonight and tomorrow.

Fishers and other marine interests are advised to exercise caution due to rough sea conditions in the vicinity of showers and thunderstorms.

The Meteorological Service will continue to monitor the situation.
End----------
 
Many sections of the island have experienced 10-14inches/255mm-356mm of rain since Saturday. And 31 persons in St. Thomas are in an emergency shelter after heavy rain caused flooding in Back Bush, Yallahs.

They are being housed at the Yallahs New Testament Church.

Deputy Director-General of the Office of the Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) Cecil Bailey, says relief efforts will begin Wednesday.    Still in St. Thomas, the occupants of a wooden house on Fountain Road in Bath had to seek refuge with friends and family Tuesday after a tree fell on the structure destroying it.

In the meantime, teams from the National Works Agency (NWA) will on Wednesday try to clear roads which were re-opened to single lane traffic following the heavy rain.

NWA Spokesman, Stephen Shaw, says focus will be on St. Thomas which was the worst affected parish. 

"We have managed to reopen all the main roads, at least single lane access, all except the roadway from Belvedere to Halse Head in St. Thomas. We will be returning to those roads especially in the parish of St. Thomas where these roads were blocked early yesterday morning and we worked throughout the day yesterday to have them return to at least single lane access. We will also be returning to the Campbell Well to Georges main road in the parish of St. Mary where we have land slippages," said Mr. Shaw. 

He says heavy duty equipment will be sent to Hanover to clear several blocked areas.
 
 The ODPEM also said that one family in Bath, St. Thomas, had to relocate temporarily to a nearby dwelling after a tree collapsed and damaged their home.
In Rocky Point, Clarendon, two elderly persons were also forced to leave home after their house was flooded, while residents in Pondside Drive, Bull Bay, St. Andrew, spent most of the night watching flood waters which surrounded their homes.
Sources radiojamaica and Today?s Gleaner
 
Forecast
Great news ,We should start seeing improvements on Friday, still would not rule of the seasonal light afternoon shower it is after all October(Jamaica?s rainiest  month),but nothing like the daily 3 inches of rain that we have been experiencing.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Catch up on fall's hot new shows on Yahoo! TV. Watch previews, get listings, and more!

- ODPEM Press Release: FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 16:50:25 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release concerning the unstable weather conditions across the island:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
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Attachment: Press Release3_October 9, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #2: FLASH FLOOD WARNING EXTENDED TO ALL PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 11:28:35 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #2 concerning the Extended Flash Flood Warning for Jamaica:



Do have a good day,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release2_October 3, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release: FLASH FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FOR LOW-LYING AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS OF JAMAICA'S EASTERN AND CENTRAL PARISHES
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 09:52:33 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release concerning a Flash Flood Warning for low-lying and flood prone areas of eastern and central parishes:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_October 2, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Three days of severe flooding affect Montego Bay, Possible t.s threat to U.S Gulf Coast
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 22:19:16 -0700 (PDT)
 

Three consecutive days of flooding affect portions of Montego Bay

 

 

It has been a very rough weekend for portions of the city of Montego Bay, as flooding did not occur not once or twice, but thrice.

Friday, September 28, 2007- Flooding day one

The first day of flooding was Friday, the rain began at 3pm and did not stop in entirety until 11pm. The Sangster International reported 3.70 in / 9.4 cm/94mm, but at my home east of the Airport my rain gauge reported 4.50inches/114.3 millimeters/11.43 centimeters. Well as you can image some serious flooding occurred, streets became raging rivers, cars were washed away, not to mention Traffic !

While my family and I was heading north. On reaching the vicinity of the airport, near Flankers. There was man shouting, “turn back drive on the highway road”, highway road is two lanes in the opposite direction. We listen and good thing we did, for we averted a possible life threatening situation, though normally the highway road is a one way south, we were allowed to drive and then we saw the road below the highway road (the road we supposed to drive) covered in more than 5 feet of brown muddy water,there were two cars ,which only roofs could be seen. I have never seen water that high on a road. What had happened is a natural stream runs in the area and with the heavy rain the stream became a raging river and the road became its course to make matters a section of the road is flat and basin-like so all the water was deposited there. When returning home the police was out redirecting persons and I also saw an ambulance, but luckily I heard of no fatalities.

Saturday, September 29, 2007-Flooding Day 2

On Saturday, at my location like the airport experienced rainfall, but It was not very heavy in total just 0.8inches.but the western section of the city including the Downtown Montego Bay, Bogue ,Redding and Anchovy area experienced heavy rain, I was not there ,but according to media reports very heavy rainfall caused flooding the area is quiet hilly so there was a lot of debris washed in the road and some persons had to abandon their cars due to rising waters.

There were also reports that several vehicles were washed away, the rushing torrent left areas such as Wilshire in the vicinity of the Anchovy High School badly scoured.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Today, It rained but in this section of town it was not very heavy(only 0.39in/1cm), but it is reported that the sane areas affected Saturday were affected again, since I don’t live there I will use the radiojamica news as my source; Sections of the second city of Montego Bay were again flooded Monday.

Afternoon showers led to several roads being impassable.

For the third time since Friday the Long Hill main road has been blocked with water and debris due to heavy rainfall in St. James.

The situation has caused a pile up of traffic from King Gate at the top of Long Hill leading back to Montego Bay.

The King Gate area is reportedly blocked with debris and rising water while the Cambridge main road is impassable.

Water is now gushing down Long Hill bringing heaps of debris to the Redding area of the north coast highway.
Water and debris is reportedly coming from Childermas and Wilshire.

Over the weekend several vehicles were washed away as heavy rainfall lashed the parish leaving areas such as Wilshire in the vicinity of the Anchovy High School badly scoured.

More rain expected almost daily this week.

A surface trough induced from (90L) what could be the seasons next named storm, will ensure we have more head-aces and I would not rule out more flooding with the ground over saturated. Especially Tuesday and Wednesday. The nws always uses this slogan I would suggest you take note “Turn around don’t drown.”

Possible Us Tropical Threat

There is yet another Gulf system to be on the lookout for our friends along the Us.Gulf Coast as the week progresses. A complex weather system currently east of Florida is expected to develop a surface low in the eastern Gulf within the next few days. Most of the global computer models agree that something will develop but again, probably sub-tropical in nature or maybe even tropical in nature.

For the tropical info summaries Jeff Masters weather underground summarzies

Heavy thunderstorms are firing up over South Florida and the nearby waters, thanks to an upper-level low pressure system interacting with an old front. Long range radar out of Miami shows that this activity is disorganized. This morning's QuikSCAT pass showed some rotation in the surface winds over the Central Bahamas, but with wind shear 20-30 knots over the region, no development is likely today. Most of the computer models forecast that wind shear will fall, and a tropical or subtropical depression will form by Wednesday near the Florida Keys, eastern Gulf of Mexico, or western Cuba. There is a strong upper-level low pressure system just southwest of Florida (Figure 1), and water vapor satellite loops show that this low is pulling plenty of dry, continental air from North America southward over the Gulf of Mexico. The upper low is expected to move southwestward. This is a situation very similar to the one that spawned Subtropical Depression Ten in September, off the Gulf Coast of Florida. In that case, the subtropical depression formed right underneath the upper level low, making for a very slow transition phase to a tropical system. It took two days for Subtropical Depression Ten to become Tropical Depression Ten, and the storm ran out of time to intensify into a tropical storm before moving ashore over the Florida Panhandle. This time, the GFS model is supporting formation of a subtropical depression to the northeast of the upper low. This situation would potentially allow a faster conversion of the subtropical storm to a tropical storm. The UKMET and Canadian model predict that a fully tropical storm will form, instead. I think a subtropical storm is more likely.

Any storm that forms is forecast to move west-northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico, pushed by a strong ridge of high pressure expected to build in. An upper-level anticyclone aloft is expected to develop as well, providing an environment favorable for intensification. However, intensification will be slowed by the presence of all the dry air dragged into the Gulf of Mexico by the upper low, and by the transition of the storm from subtropical to tropical. The models project a landfall in Texas or Louisiana on Friday or Saturday. The Hurricane Hunters are on call to fly into this system Tuesday afternoon, if necessary.

End

Impacts so far

Strong surf and winds have been reported Monday. Wind gusts topping 40 mph as well as 7- to 11-foot breakers were reported in Flagler Beach, Fla., 45-mph wind gusts were recorded at Mayport, Fla., and 4- to 5-foot waves caused beach erosion at Folly Beach, S.C.

 

graphic from accuweater



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- ODPEM Press Release: ODPEM Stages Part II of CDERA/First Caribbean International Bank Safer Building Workshop
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:40:36 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release concerning the staging of Part II of CDERA/First Caribbean International Bank Safer Building Workshop in Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_Safer Building Workshop_September 26, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Likely very busy week in the Tropics
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:47:34 -0700 (PDT)

Today was a bright sunny day from beginning until end, which was the first since the start of Last week Sunday.  Yesterday, It seem we would have our first full day of sun, but at approximately 5:50 PM, we experienced a heavy downpour which lasted about the 15 minutes, the day was also notable hot the high was 34 deg C/94 deg F.

 

Busy Week likely in the Tropics.

Well I was not planning to blog today, but with the possible threats of invests 97L and 96L, I felt the need to make our neighbors aware.

Below is a summary on the situation by Hurricane Expert ,  Dr.Jeff Masters of Weather Underground,

A disturbance ("94L") in the Gulf of Mexico has not gotten better organized today and has just about run out of time. Long range radar out of New Orleans shows the advance rain showers from 94L are already at the coast, and there are no signs of spiral banding, rotation, or organization in either the radar imagery or satellite loops of 94L. Wind shear has increased to 10-20 knots over the Gulf of Mexico, and it now appears unlikely 94L will be able to develop into a tropical depression.

Lesser Antilles disturbance 97L
Of greater concern is a tropical wave (97L) about 300 miles east of Barbados in the Lesser Antilles Islands. This wave has not gotten any better organized during the past 12 hours, as seen in the latest Satellite imagery. The wave is under about 10 knots of wind shear. The shear is forecast to remain below 10 knots through Tuesday, and there is some favorable anticyclonic outflow at high levels, and 97L has a good chance of developing into a tropical depression by Tuesday. At that point, the future evolution of the storm depends strongly on how far north it is. If 97L moves northwest over Puerto Rico on Wednesday, as the GFDL and some of the global models predict, it may encounter a zone of high wind shear associated with the bottom part of a trough of low pressure positioned to the north of Puerto Rico. This shear should keep the storm from becoming a hurricane. If 97L stays on a more west-northwest track and penetrates into the Caribbean Sea south of Puerto Rico, as predicted by the simpler BAMM model, the storm is likely to encounter less shear, and could grow into a hurricane. Regardless, 97L will bring heavy rain and gusty winds to most of the Lesser Antilles Islands tonight through Tuesday.

Far Atlantic disturbance 96L
I don't like the looks of this one. A tropical wave "96L" in the far eastern Atlantic, about 650 miles southwest of the Cape Verdes Islands, has gotten more organized during the past 24 hours, as seen in the latest Satellite imagery. The circulation associated with the wave is unusually large. The storm will be a little slow to get going, since the storm is so far south. At the storm's current latitude--6 degrees north of the Equator--it cannot leverage the earth's spin very much to help spin up the huge circulation it has. Despite it's close proximity to the Equator, low-level spiral bands have already formed, as seen in recent microwave satellite images (Figure 1). The wave is under about 10 knots of wind shear. The shear is forecast to remain below 10 knots through Wednesday, and there is some favorable anticyclonic outflow at high levels. There is a good chance 96L will become a hurricane late this week, as forecast by the SHIPS intensity model. The Lesser Antilles Islands should anticipate the possibility that this will be a hurricane by the time it reaches the islands seven days from now, although it could miss to the north. It is possible 96L will encounter a zone of high wind shear beginning four days from now. The HWRF model develops 96L into a 55-mph tropical storm by Tuesday, then weakens the system the remainder of the week. The GFDL model does not develop 96L at all.

End,

 

Also interesting is another Hurricane experts viewpoint  Rob Lightbown of, Crown Weather Services

Tropical Wave Just East of the Windward Islands (Invest 97-L):
Infared satellite imagery showed a broad area of low pressure associated with a westward-moving tropical wave located about 450 miles east of the Windward Islands. This system is becoming better organized with time and I suspect we will have a tropical depression or a tropical storm out of this within the next 2 to 3 days. All indications are that this system will move through the islands somewhere between the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique late Monday night into Tuesday morning. After moving through the islands, the track models forecast that this system will move into the northeastern Caribbean and just to the south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Thursday.

As for this morning's global models, they seem to be fairly unenthused about developing this system. The GFS model forecasts that this system will move through the Leeward Islands and then the US Virgin Islands on Monday and Tuesday. After that, the GFS model dissipates this system in the face of strong wind shear and unfavorable conditions late this week near the southeastern Bahamas. The NOGAPS model forecasts a similar track to the GFS model and the NOGAPS model does forecast some sort of system in the central and southeastern Bahamas on Friday. The European model forecasts that this system will move into the Leeward Islands on Monday night and then into the Virgin Islands by Tuesday night. After that, the European model forecasts that this system will move into the Bahamas on Saturday.

The future intensity of this system just east of the Windward Islands is highly dependent on the track this system takes. If this system takes a track into the Caribbean, then strengthening is likely due to the more favorable environmental conditions, however, if this system takes a track into the Virgin Islands and then north of Puerto Rico it will run into a much more hostile environment and this system wouldn't last. Based on the current upper-level winds, I suspect that the track into the eastern Caribbean may be closer to reality. Therefore, all residents and vacationers in the Windward Islands from Martinique to Guadeloupe should be aware that a developing system will be affecting you starting Monday afternoon and continuing into Tuesday morning with tropical storm conditions expected. I will monitor this system very closely and keep you all updated on the latest.

Tropical Wave South-Southwest of the Cape Verde Islands (Invest 96-L):
I am also watching an area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave which is located about 600 miles south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. This system is showing signs of organization and environmental conditions are favorable for this system to become a tropical depression within the next day or two. This system is forecast by both the track model guidance and the global models to move towards the west and west-northwest for at least the next 5 days. After that, the global models forecast some sort of threat to the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and possibly Puerto Rico next weekend. As for forecast intensity, the SHIPS model forecasts that this system will ramp up quickly to a hurricane by Wednesday morning and then remain a Category 1 hurricane through Friday morning.

I agree with both the SHIPS intensity model and the overall track forecast and the idea that we will likely have a strengthening storm tracking to the west and west-northwest this week, which could threaten the northern Leeward Islands and the Virgin Islands from late Friday through next weekend as a hurricane.

Persons can get information,an indept video look at this systems,wind shear , sea surface , expert commentary etc. at http://www.hurricanecity.com/update.htm

n.b often start for a few seconds with talk about generator and then the broadcast begins update 7am edt daily during the hurricane season.

 

Have  a good week .

 



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- Montego Bay Monsoon, Short-lived Td10, TD 11 on the horizon
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:25:07 -0700 (PDT)
I must first apologies for not quoting my source on the article I published on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 from crown weather services, I normally do include the sources I use, but I was really rushing that morning  and some how totally forgot again my apologies.
Montego Bay Monsoon
The weather we have been experiencing here in Montego Bay could be compared to the monsoon in Southern Asia. Since Sunday, We have been experiencing heavy downpours at almost the exact same time every day (2:15-2:30), each day producing same results long lines of bumper to bumper traffic. Each day rain fall amounts were in the region of an inch and at my location the total for this week is 5 inches.
The funny thing is for the most part the daily rains have been isolated to the Montego Bay/St.James Area, as much of Jamaica has been fairly dry and sunny.
Today?s and Yesterday?s rains though, has been more widespread and is associated with an area which will likely become the seasons next depression .This is discussed below.
TD 10
Td 10 evolved from a sub-tropical storm today and has already made landfall with minimal impacts. Accuweather summaries this below:
AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center meteorologists report Tropical Depression 10 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico has made landfall along the western Florida Panhandle Friday evening. The system will lash the Gulf Coast with gusty thunderstorms and strong surf.

At 10:00 p.m. CDT, the depression was located about 10 miles northeast of Pensacola, Fla. Maximum sustained winds were 30 mph with higher gusts. Radar and satellite imagery indicated that the weak system made landfall along the western Florida Panhandle Friday evening, and the depression will paralleling the coast for a time tonight and tomorrow.

According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno, because of the proximity to land the system will not reach tropical storm strength. However, drenching showers, gusty thunderstorms and above-normal tides will buffet portions of the central Gulf coast into the weekend. Since the system has had a history of producing tornadoes early in its life cycle, the tornado threat with the system may continue through Saturday.

The tropical storm warning previously in effect from Apalachicola,
 
·         Fla., to the mouth of the Mississippi River, including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain has been discontinued.

The Severe Weather Center lists the coastal flood warnings and severe weather warnings in effect from the west coast of Florida to western Louisiana.

The Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior reported Thursday oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico have evacuated eight platforms and rigs in the anticipated path of the storm system.

Circulation around the low has sparked tornadoes in Florida. On Thursday, an unconfirmed tornado damaged a number of homes in Eustis, Fla., while an unconfirmed tornado was reported in Leesburg, Fla. Wind gusts topping 60 mph downed trees and power lines, knocking out power to several hundred homes in Marion County.

The low has produced heavy rain in the Southeast through much of this week. Rainfall totals in Florida over the 24-hour period ending today at 2 a.m. EDT include:
·       Ocala: 2.15"
·       The Villages: 1.89"
·       Gainesville: 1.56"
·       Leesburg: 1.42"
·       Homestead: 1.15"
 
Td 11 on the horizon?
There is a tropical disturbance west of the island, There is a lot of convection with the system, but there is no well defined low pressure center. In favor of development is the extremely warm water that is in the area. On the other hand, through wind shear in the region are not ideal. I still think it could be the next named storm. Weather Underground ?s Hurricane expert Dr.Jeff Masters summarizes below
 
An area of disturbed weather in the western Caribbean between the Yucatan Peninsula and Jamaica is associated with a surface trough of low pressure. The counterclockwise flow of air around TD 10 is feeding moisture from this disturbance across Cuba and into South Florida today. This disturbance will bring heavy rains to Cozumel, Cancun, and western Cuba on Saturday as it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula. The disturbance is under 20 knots of wind shear at present, but the NOGAPS and GFS models predict this shear may fall enough on Sunday or Monday to allow some development to occur. Texas and Louisiana may get heavy rains from this system on Monday.

A non-tropical low pressure system about 1000 miles east of Bermuda is being watched by NHC for tropical development. SSTs beneath the low are 80 degrees F, which is right at the border where tropical storm formation can occur. This low is expected to move northeastwards out to sea 2-4 days from now.
Below :Graphs from accuweather on the latest tropical threat


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- 93L less of a threat
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:19:17 -0700 (PDT)
This is a quick update there has been a important development as far as 93L is concerned Dr.Jeff Master summarizes this development below
 
Recent Satellite loops and the Tampa Bay long range radar show that a non-tropical low pressure system (93L) appears to be reforming off the southwest coast of Florida. This is an important shift, since it brings the surface low underneath the upper level low pressure system aloft--the same kind of situation one finds in ordinary non-tropical "cutoff lows". This is an unusual event in September over the Gulf of Mexico, and is good news for those potentially living in the path of 93L. A surface low pressure system vertically aligned with a cold-cored upper level low will usually take a day or two to make the transition to a warm-cored tropical storm. During this kind of transition, rapid strengthening is rare, and the chances of 93L ever reaching hurricane strength now appear dim. The latest (12Z, 8am EDT) intensity forecasts from the GFDL and HWRF computer models keep keep 93L below hurricane strength, as does the 18Z (2pm EDT) SHIPS intensity model. The HWRF model indicates that 93L will come ashore at tropical depression strength, and this is entirely possible.

The forecast tracks from the latest cycle of model runs all show a landfall between central Louisiana and Pensacola, Florida on Saturday morning. The exceptions are the NOGAPS and ECMWF models, which show a Sunday morning landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border.
Secondary low develops off Cape Canaveral
A secondary low pressure system developed late this afternoon just north of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and has moved inland. This second low is now being referred to as "93L" by NHC, not the low developing off the Southwest Florida coast. Both of these lows need to be tracked, however. The new low north of Cape Canaveral has generated some impressive pressure falls of up to 9 mb in the past 24 hours, and has brought rainfall amounts of five inches along the coast from Daytona to Jacksonville. Heavy rains will spread across northern Florida Thursday as this low tracks westward. If the low pops out over the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle, it could intensify into a tropical depression and bring very heavy rain to the Florida Panhandle.
The NOAA jet is scheduled to fly this evening and collect data to help with the Wednesday evening (00Z Thursday) model runs. The models should have a much better handle on both of these lows early Thursday morning. It will be interesting to see which low ends up being dominant.

Remains of Ingrid
The remains of Tropical Storm Ingrid are still kicking up some heavy thunderstorm activity a few hundred miles north of the northernmost Lesser Antilles Islands. There is not much spin evident on satellite loops, but wind shear has dropped from 30 knots yesterday to 10 knots today, and we will need to watch this area for development. Steering currents are weak in this region, and the remains of Ingrid will move little over the next 3-5 days
 
end
 
Already there has been impactsfrom 93 L,
 
Beach erosion was reported again Wednesday along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. Dangerous rip currents led to three rescues this morning at Tybee Island, Ga.

Gusty winds lashed Florida Wednesday, with downed trees and power lines at Palm Coast and Flagler Beach. Rainfall totals in Florida over the 24-hour period ending Wednesday at noon EDT include:
  • Daytona Beach: 2.18"
  • Kennedy Space Center: 2.01"
  • Ft. Pierce: 1.40"
  • Cocoa: 1.37"
  • Ft. Lauderdale: 1.36"
  • St. Augustine: 1.07"
 
 
Below:A few grapics from accuweather
 
 
 
 
 
 


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- 93L to become Hurricane Jerry before affecting US Gulf Coast this weekend
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:12:24 -0700 (PDT)

Please note that the source of this article is: Crown Weather Services -Gert

Early morning satellite imagery indicated that low pressure was located right on top of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This system has not become any better organized overnight due to 25 knots of wind shear over the system. This system is forecast to cross south Florida today and is forecast to move off of the southwest coast of Florida near Fort Myers by early tonight. Once this system crosses south Florida, all of the computer forecast guidance continues to indicate that development and intensification will occur as this system moves across the Gulf of Mexico. The exact track of this storm is relatively uncertain and will likely remain this way until we have a good low level circulation to track. It seems though, however, that the global and track model guidance are indicating that the Texas and Louisiana coasts, roughly from Houston to New Orleans, are well within the model guidance envelope. Before we look at the various model guidance, let's take a look at the overall expected weather pattern:

A strong ridge of high pressure is setting up over the eastern half of the U.S., and is expected to remain anchored in place for at least the next week to ten days. This type of steering favors a storm motion to the west. However, the steering pattern will be complicated by the presence of a upper-level low pressure system that will move to the southwest over the Gulf of Mexico. This upper-level low will gradually weaken with time. The model differences described below stem from their handling of the strength and track of this upper level low pressure system.

Now, let's take a look at what the various models are saying this morning:

The GFS model forecasts that this storm will make landfall in southeastern Louisiana on Saturday morning.

The NOGAPS model forecasts that this storm will make landfall near Port O'Connor, Texas on Sunday morning.

The UKMET model forecasts that this storm will make landfall in southeastern Louisiana on Saturday evening.

The European model is holding steadfast and is still forecasting a Texas landfall near forecasts that this storm will make landfall near Port O'Connor, Texas on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

The track model guidance envelope are centered on a Louisiana landfall. On the left hand side of the model envelope are the HWRF and GFDL models which forecasts a landfall somewhere between Morgan City and Vermilion Bay, Louisiana on Saturday morning. On the right hand side of the envelope is the BAMS and BAMD models which forecast a landfall along the Mississippi coastline early Saturday morning.

As for forecast intensity, the SHIPS model forecasts this system to be a 70 to 80 mph hurricane at the time of landfall, while the LGEM model forecasts this system to be a 67 mph tropical storm at the time of landfall. Finally, the GFDL model forecasts that this system will be a 60 to 70 mph tropical storm at the time of landfall.

Ok, here are my thoughts: Once this system gets into the Gulf of Mexico tonight, it will have about a 60 to 72 hour window to intensify. The big question is still how much shear will this system encounter? The latest guidance continues to indicates that the shear could be fairly low in the Gulf of Mexico leading to intensification over that entire 60 to 72 hour time period. It should be noted that the SHIPS model is forecasting shear values of 10 knots or less from late tonight through the time of landfall and this is something that will have to be watched for very closely.

As for a track and potential landfall: Some notes on model tracks before I give you my thoughts, it appears that the GFDL model's track is too far north because it immediately tracks this system northward to Cape Canaveral and then to the west, therefore, I think the GFDL model's track is about 150 miles too far north, therefore, if we shift it's track 150 miles to the west, it would bring the storm onshore on the upper Texas coast between Houston and Sabine Pass late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. The GFS model has been shifting back and forth between a landfall in southeast Louisiana and a landfall on the upper Texas coast, so I question this model's credibility. The European model has been targeting the Texas coast for several days now and it has not shifted all that much in its forecast track, therefore, I am leaning towards that type of a track.

Therefore, for now, I am going to go with a track somewhere between the Consensus model, the modified GFDL model and the European model and I think this system will come ashore somewhere between Galveston, Texas and Vermilion Parish, Louisiana sometime between Saturday afternoon and midday Sunday. As for landfall intensity, for now I think this system will come ashore as a 85 to 100 mph hurricane. Although, as I have already mentioned the trend in the models is that there will be less shear and a more favorable environment for development, therefore landfall intensity at this point is extremely uncertain.

Bottom line is that all residents on the US Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama should pay very careful attention to the progress of this system. The exact track and intensity of the storm is uncertain and many things can change over the next few days. Obviously, this is a system that I am going to keep a very close eye on and I will be sure to keep you all updated


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- Models forecast 2 named storms this week ,Western Caibbean and Gulf
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:52:55 -0700 (PDT)
 
Models predicting active week, 2 named storms, one Sw Caribbean the other in the Gulf.
 
 
We have been experiencing seasonal weather here in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Each day starts out sunny and Pleasant until the afternoon when there?s a sudden heavy downpour or which lasts a few minutes and then it is all of the sunny again.
This afternoon I was taking a nap, when I was awoken by some serious thunder, it was very close by and continued for almost half an hour, it was quite frightening for my dogs as they dashed right inside my house right onto my couch and I had some trouble pulling them out wheew thank God that?s over. The thing is the sky was not very dark, and it goes to say it can be bright and sunny and even then thunder and lighting can occur.
 
Double Trouble Tropical Threat This week
sourceRob Lightbown, Crown Weather Services

1. Ingrid:
The center of Ingrid cannot be seen in
infared satellite imagery and Ingrid is being sheared by 25 to 30 knots of wind shear. The high levels of shear are forecast to continue through Tuesday with the shear expected to relax by Wednesday. This morning's track model guidance envelope is quite divergent on how the models want to track Ingrid. The HWRF model is on the right hand side of the model envelope and the BAMM and BAMS models are on the left hand side of the model envelope. Since Ingrid is a very weak system, I have to go along with the models that are on the lefthand side of the guidance. Weak systems take advantage of the low-level wind flow, therefore a general track somewhere between the 2 BAM models and the UKMET model seems possible and I think Ingrid will be near 21.5 North Latitude, 66.5 West Longitude on Friday morning.
Shower and thunderstorm activity associated with Ingrid persists but lacks organization due to strong 25 to 30 knot wind shear. As I already mentioned, the current southwesterly wind shear is forecast by the global models to persist through Tuesday and then relax by Wednesday. It is possible that Ingrid could degenerate or dissipate during the next 48 hours and the GFDL model does forecast this to happen. It should be noted that the SHIPS model does forecast Ingrid to hang on for another 2 days and then restrengthen to a strong tropical storm by Thursday morning and to a Category 1 hurricane by Friday morning. As for the intensity part of the forecast. I am going to take the aggressive approach this morning because Ingrid seems to be holding its own against the strong shear and it would not surprise me at all if this storm does bust through the shear zone and restrengthen later this week. So, my thinking is for a strengthening tropical storm (40 to 50 mph winds) by Thursday and a moderately strong tropical storm (55 to 65 mph winds) by Friday.
Obviously, I am not writing off Ingrid and I am going to continue to monitor the progress of Ingrid over the next few days.
2. Potential Development In The Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico This Week:
This morning's
computer forecast guidance continues to hint strongly at some sort of development in the Caribbean by Tuesday or Wednesday that tracks into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. What looks like may happen is that high pressure will be locked in at the surface over New England through much of this week. A upper-level low pressure system is forecast to slide southwestward into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and either this upper level low will ventilate the Caribbean and pull a disturbance northward into the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean or the upper level low will translate down to the surface and form a tropical cyclone over the central Gulf of Mexico on Thursday which tracks into the western Gulf of Mexico by Saturday. The various computer forecast guidance continues to have differing ideas on what may happen this week in the Gulf of Mexico:
The GFS model forecasts that a upper level low will slide southwestward into the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and then moves this upper level low to the west. Meanwhile, a tropical disturbance is forecast to move northward from the Caribbean and is forecast to be located near the western tip of Cuba on Thursday. After Thursday, things get kind of confusing. It seems that the GFS model transfers the energy from the tropical disturbance over western Cuba to the upper level low which is forecast to be located over the west-central Gulf of Mexico by Thursday night. This in turn causes the upper level low to work its way down to the surface and possibly form a tropical cyclone. After Thursday night, the GFS model forecasts this possible tropical cyclone to track westward and come ashore in south Texas next Sunday. It should be noted that the wind shear forecast progged by the GFS model starts out as unfavorable in the Gulf of Mexico from Monday through Wednesday, but becomes favorable for tropical development and intensification on Thursday. These favorable conditions are forecast to last through Saturday.
The Canadian model has a different idea. This model forecasts that the upper level low will slide southwestward into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and work its way down to the surface and form a tropical cyclone on Thursday. The Canadian model then forecasts this storm to track westward and be located just off of the central coast of Texas on Friday evening. As for forecasted shear, the Canadian model forecasts that conditions will be unfavorable for tropical cyclone development through Wednesday and are forecast to be favorable on Thursday and Friday.
The NOGAPS model forecasts another possible scenario. This model forecasts that two things will happen. One is that a tropical disturbance will move northward from the southern Caribbean over the next 72 hours and two is that a upper-level low pressure system will slide southwestward into the eastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday evening. After Tuesday evening, the NOGAPS model forecasts that the upper level low will continue moving west and be located over the central Gulf of Mexico by Friday while the possible tropical cyclone tracks northward over central Cuba on Thursday and then over the Florida Keys and southwest Florida on Friday.
The UKMET model forecasts that surface pressures are forecast to lower from the Yucatan Channel northward into the central Gulf of Mexico by Thursday, which then translates into a tropical cyclone in the west-central Gulf of Mexico on Friday evening.
The European model forecasts that a upper-level low pressure system is forecast to slide southwestward into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. It appears that the upper level low will translate down to the surface and form a tropical cyclone over the central Gulf of Mexico on Thursday which tracks into the western Gulf of Mexico by Saturday.
Here are my thoughts: The overall pattern this week, especially late this week, continues to concerns me. I went back last night and took a look at the weather maps from the first couple of weeks of September, 1961 and the upper level patterns between then and the forecast progs for this week (Especially the European model) are fairly similar.
Now you ask, what happened in September, 1961, well Hurricane Carla formed in the southern Caribbean and tracked northwestward to near the Yucatan Peninsula and then from there continued to track northwestward and came ashore between Port O' Connor and Port Lavaca, Texas as a Category 4 hurricane on September 11, 1961. What you can do is visit NOAA's daily weather maps and download the maps from September 3 through September 11th, 1961 and compare them with what the models are forecasting. The similarities in some cases, especially with the European model, are striking.
Now, understand me, I am not forecasting that a Category 4 hurricane is going to strike in a week or so. What I am saying though is that the entire upper level pattern is such that I am almost expecting something to develop this week in either the Caribbean or the southern Gulf of Mexico. Ok, now let's step back for a minute and see what the current conditions look like in this area:
This morning's infared satellite imagery, water vapor satellite imagery and surface weather analysis showed a couple of key features that could come into play this week. The first is the combination of convection over the southern Caribbean and convection associated with a tropical wave approaching from the eastern Caribbean. This tropical wave could be the energy source to trigger some sort of development in the southern Caribbean this week. The second item is the surface low pressure system depicted over northern Georgia. This low pressure system will likely push offshore of the US Southeast coast over the next day or so and then be turned to the southwest and push into the eastern Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week. It is unclear on how exactly tropical cyclone genesis will happen this week, but it seems like the features discussed above could combine in some way and initiate tropical cyclone genesis this week somewhere between the Caribbean and the southern Gulf of Mexico. The environmental conditions in the southern and western Caribbean are forecast to be favorable through this entire week and these favorable conditions are forecast to spread into the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday


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- ODPEM Press Release: 19th ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE GILBERT ’S IMPACT ON JAMAICA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2007
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:06:23 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release concerning the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_Hurricane Gilbert, September 12, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release: THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE IVAN ’S IMPACT ON JAMAICA, SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2007
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:26:07 -0500

Good Day Everyone,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release concerning the third anniversary of hurricane Ivan's impact on Jamaica:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_Hurricane Ivan, September 10, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Felix
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 12:36:55 -0500
just got word that the high seas from Felix are reaching Jamaica - the road to Manley International Airport is under water - so all are scratching their heads as to how passengers are going to reach the city.
Time they did something to eliminate this problem, it just keeps occurring.
 
Started off as a wonderful day this morning in Ochi  - Election Day 2007
 
Now at noon, dark clouds coming over the southern ridge and rain sprinkling off and on. North Coast seas have a wee chop to them. Felix is passing well to our south, however his bands of terror stretch over a huge area.
 
to all those west of Jamaica please stay as safe as you can, we are praying for you
 
Sue M

- ODPEM Press Release: Sea Water on Palisadoes Road
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 11:01:45 -0500

Good Morning Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #1: Sea Water on Palisadoes Road:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release1_September 3, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- PHEW
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 11:31:13 -0500
well the heat is on in more ways than one
 
Felix beginning to roar, fortunately for Jamaica it looks like he will stay well to our south - we can't take another one at this time, so the order has been cancelled thank you
 
We have our General Election tomorrow (Monday), this was postponed one week after hurricane Dean, so we need to get that over and done with so we can get back to business with which ever party will be in office. Things literally stop when election gets close and having the weeks postponement has just drawn out the process.
 
The heat in Ochi has been unreal - sweltering is too mild, the humidity is high and the ocean temps are way past tepid. We have been getting some thunderstorms, but all they do is heat up the soup. September has come in with a blast.
 
Today is the final day of children that we have been bringing to Ochi for a day of fun and to help those who had a rough time through Dean. What fantastic people from the Portland Cottage and Old Harbour Bay areas - this is just the beginning of the relationship we have developed with the 2 communities - the efforts to assist will continue as we have promised them all. They are now part of our family and we theirs.
 
The children are always a way to anyone's heart and soul and to see these little ones who have been through so much, but who are so forgiving and full of hope for the future make every tiny bit of effort so worthwhile
 
Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are in Felix's path - take the time and the extra effort to stay safe. Jamaica will be thinking of you and praying
 
Stay Safe
 
Sue M

- Busy Monday -General Elections and Hurricane Felix
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 20:20:02 -0700 (PDT)
Tropical Storm Watch in effect for the island.
 
 
General Elections, Hurricane Felix-Monday will definitely be a very busy day. It was only days ago, Jamaica prepared and southern Jamaica was battered by hurricane Dean, and now Hurricane Felix is on the horizon, lucky for us this time Hurricane Felix will not affect Jamaica, or our neighbors in the Caymans, according to hurricane expert Jeff Masters, The ridge of high pressure that is steering Felix to the west is strong enough that a northward deviation of the storm into Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is unlikely. If Felix is going to deviate from the projected NHC forecast the next two days, he thinks a southward deviation into Nicaragua is more likely.

He also mentioned that If Felix does stay far enough north to make it into the Western Caribbean on Tuesday and Wednesday, there is a trough of low pressure forecast to swing north of the region that could turn Felix on a more northwesterly track into the Gulf of Mexico. The models are split on this, and we'll have to wait and see. Those of you planning on being in Cancun or Cozumel on Wednesday should pay close attention to Felix
.    
Most Jamaicans I think are at this time unaware of Felix, as most persons are captivated by the election campaigns, Jamaica is undoubtedly the world?s most colorful, most exciting democracy. Songs, dances, motorcades, dances, hilarious ad-campaigns, just a festive atmosphere, however on Monday this chapter can close and Jamaicans can unite again, putting aside party difference and loving each other gain, being our neighbor?s keepers .
Though Hurricane Felix is not expected to directly impact Jamaica (should pass about 160mi south of us), any northward shift in the forecast track could mean southern Jamaica could experience Tropical Storm Conditions, with this possibility at 7pm The Government has issued a tropical storm watch for the
 island.
 
Election Day Forecast (source accuweather)
As Jamaicans head to the polls on Monday, below is the hourly forecast
 
Hourly Weather Summary
Monday Morning, September 3(metric c/kp/h)
 
5am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
26° C
Mostly Cloudy
6am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
26° C
Partly Sunny
7am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
26° C
Partly Sunny
8am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
26° C
Partly Sunny
9am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
27° C
Partly Sunny
10am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
28° C
Partly Sunny
11am
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
28° C
Partly Sunny
Noon
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
30° C
Mostly Cloudy
 
 
Hourly Weather Details
Monday Morning, September 3
 
5am
6am
7am
8am
9am
10am
11am
Noon
RealFeel®
29
28
28
29
30
31
32
33
Dewpoint
23
22
22
22
22
22
22
23
Humidity
82
81
80
78
75
72
69
67
Wind Dir
ENE
NE
NE
NE
NE
NE
NE
NE
Wind Speed
16
20
24
27
28
32
35
37
Precip Type
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
 
Hourly Weather Summary
Monday Evening, September 3
 
1pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
30° C
Mostly Cloudy
2pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
31° C
Mostly Cloudy
3pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
31° C
Mostly Cloudy
4pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
31° C
Mostly Cloudy
5pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
31° C
Cloudy
6pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
30° C
Cloudy
7pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
30° C
Cloudy
8pm
KINGSTON, JAMAICA Hourly Weather
29° C
Cloudy
 
 
Hourly Weather Details
Monday Evening, September 3
 
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
RealFeel®
33
33
32
32
32
31
31
31
Dewpoint
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
Humidity
65
64
64
64
64
66
68
70
Wind Dir
NE
NE
NE
ENE
ENE
ENE
ENE
ENE
Wind Speed
40
41
43
45
45
43
40
35
Precip Type
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
 
 
 


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- ODPEM Press Release #33: Update on Populated Shelters Across Jamaica
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:36:51 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #33:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release33_August 31, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #32: Update on Post-Hurricane Dean Recovery Activities
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:06:02 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #32:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release32_August 30, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Releases #30 and #31
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:14:32 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #30 and #31:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release30_August 29, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Press Release31_August 29, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Morning from Ochi
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:08:20 -0500
Life is a bit insane at the moment - folks still without power in some areas, however, this seems to be moving along. It is a bit frustrating for some when they see their neighbours with
lights on and areas of neighbourhoods still in darkness.
 
The badly affected areas should have power restored by mid september, so we will be back to normal. One of the blogs is watching the area in the mid atlantic - Felix in the making? We shall wait and see.
 
I finally have light in me yaard - BUT, thanks to Dear Miss Mermaid inTortola, I am investigating the purchase of a Kipor or similar -small, QUIET, likkle generator for my house. T'anks to my dear hubby, I am now cooking with GAS, so can have tea and coffee no matter what goes on with the light!!!!!!!
 
I am now on the attack with "Careless & Wortless" our land line telephone service provider, I am tolerant of the fact that Dean passed close to Jamaica, HOWEVER, my land lines have not worked since August 10th - some cable fault they tell me, I did ask them this morning on my daily call from my cell phone, if they were capable of providing new cables so I can have my lines back - the answer from the sweet young thing on the other end - "I can't say at this time Miss"
I nearly fell off the chair laughing - The thought that came to mind was - Hasn't got a clue. It is very sad that there is not enough training done for the operators on the other end of the phone lines.
 
The weather in Ochi has been great, a few scattered showers from time to time, temps are good and sleeping at night is decent. We have 2 ships in port today, so this is indeed a welcome  sight seeing things return to normal.
 
I am working with several organisations who are organising bringing the children from the worst affected areas, Old Harbour Bay and Portland Cottage, to Ocho Rios for the day - just to try to let these kids know that things will get better, they will get full medicals, hot meals, clothing, visits to fun attractions in the area and special bus rides all about the place. There are apparently 2,000 affected children so we will be doing this over a week long period. Huge KUDOS to all who are involved, we really can perform miracles when we all work together.
 
We have our general election scheduled for Monday September 3, it was rescheduled from Aug 27 after Dean came knocking. We just need to get it over and done with so we can get things moving again. It's a bit crazy at the moment as the campaigning is in full swing. Hard to know what will happen come Monday they say it will be close
 
Sue M
 
 

- Picking up the pieces
  • From: dervon <reggaeweather at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:23:13 -0700 (PDT)
Well dean has passed and we are well advanced in our cleaning up operations. My condolences goes out to the family of those who lost loved ones during the storm and especially to those of the two lines men who were accidentally electrocuted while trying to restore electricity to us. I also apologize for not having any personal photos of the storm which was due to the spent batteries in my camera but photos of the damage can be viewed at http://go-jamaica.com/weather/gallery/. I also want to thank those who expressed concerns during our time of worry and remind all our friends out there to always be prepared and not to wait until a storm threatens. We are now seeing cat 4 and 5 storms more frequently and this trend seems to be the order of the day, they are nothing to be playing around with so PREPARE YOURSELVES!
 
bless up all my Friends and may jah guide and protect you all.


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- ODPEM Press Release #29: Assessments of Impact of Hurricane Dean on Jamaica Continues
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:38:55 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #29:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release29_August 29, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #28: UPDATE ON POPULATED SHELTERS ACROSS JAMAICA
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:26:23 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #28:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release28_August 28, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #27: UPDATE ON POPULATED SHELTERS ACROSS JAMAICA
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:33:31 -0500

Good Day Ladies  Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #27:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release27_August 27, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- INSIDE of Hurricane Dean
  • From: "Robin Plough" <robin.plough at gmail.com>
  • Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:00:39 -0500
Firstly, may I sincerely thank all those wonderful people who replied to my pre-Dean letter, with so much support, good wishes, and prayers: to all of them: THANKS, you cannot know how much it was appreciated!
 
WHAT is it like to be INSIDE a hurricane? Not just standing on the ground, UNDER one, but to be 4,000 feet up, inside it?
To be able, during the clear intervals, to look down the valley and see the rain coming out of the clouds below you: awe-inspiring!! Most of the time visibility was little more than a few yards, the whole area actually inside the clouds: with a few moments of clearer visibility in between.
 
It felt almost primeval, locked away in a "cave", all daylight hidden behind the boarded up windows, no air conditioning ( ie the door and windows were all closed, locked, and shuttered ) lit by candles: and nothing but the radio to keep in touch with the world.
The winds started from the North, and all day Sunday increased in strength, wiping out most of my Banana trees; and then just as the eye of the hurricane passed due South of Kingston, a lull, nearly an hour, little rain, almost no wind.
"The lull before the ( REAL ) storm!! The mountains must have protected this, my ( usually ) little bit of paradise, from the winds, but then there is a roaring sound, and the wind returns from the South, funnelled up the valley, along the ridge of the Blue Mountains, and hitting us like a brick wall: the first 100mph+ gust of wind shakes the whole house, and in one single gust, takes down several small trees, tearing leaves, wholesale, off the Mahoe trees, bending them through 90 degrees. Sounds like machine fire, as dozens of under ripe Guavas smack in to the roof, and a heavier calibre gun firing almost ripe oranges and lemons on to the roof.
The NOISE was unbelievable, the ROAR of the wind, almost deafening; Dogs getting very agitated: soon discover that, it is nothing to do with the storm, but one of them has spotted a rat ( a wild, bush rat, not the disease ridden sewer type, rats ) sheltering from the storm, sitting on the window ledge above the stairs: so there the three of us are, peak of the hurricane, chasing a rat, by candle-light, around the house, for 20 minutes before one of them kills it!! 
 
In retrospect: it was somewhere between scary and frightening: the power of the wind has to be felt to be believed; pictures on the TV can give little more than an "impression", of the feeling of what a 100mph+ gust of wind "feels" like as it hits you, and no way can a microphone pick up the true level of the ROAR of the wind.
 
Aftermath: I live in a very remote, and isolated place; yet early Monday morning ( phones out!! ) my two nearest neighbours both come over, through quite windy, and very rainy, weather to check that I am OK: walking over a mile, in pouring rain, just to check on me!! THIS is the TRUE SPIRIT of JAMAICA!! AND long may it remain so!! If anything, this is the "silver lining" to any natural disaster with might affect this beautiful Island: the reaffirmation, and strengthening of the "Spirit of Jamaica"!
 
    Robin Plough 

- Wow
  • From: "sue morris" <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:40:23 -0500
I have just seen Tracy's slide show if damage in her area - WOW, we were so luck on the north coast, we were basically untouched when we look at the pics.
 
our hearts go out to you Tracy and hope that the recovery is swift. Ocho Rios is almost back to normal- there are electricity problems, JPS comes and goes inthe townitself, however the voltage is very low, many folks are losing a lot of equipment because of this. We have continued to run the generator at the Village, can't take the risk of damage, better to be safe and spend the money on diesel fuel, than suffer huge losses, cheap insurance
 
Still no power at my house, nothing in the fridge, all cleaned out ready to go. Not much in the way of food stuffs left in the town, hopefully the supply trucks will be able to make their way through within the next few days.
 
ice is a BIG problem, I hear fights are breaking out anywhere ice shows up for sale, hopefully this will be sorted out quickly as well. I have a feeling that we will be booking in to one of the area hotels this weekend to have a warm shower, hot food, COFFEE, and cool beverages. Have not heard of JPS's agenda for reconnections, there is certainly a large amount of damage to the main distribution lines. They are working as quick as they can, although not as quick as what many would like.
 
I was out of electricity for 5 weeks after hurricane Ivan, we are only at 5 days after Dean
 
Fabulous day here in Ochi, cool breeze blowing, sun is shining. Some heavy thunder and lightning the past couple of nights, helps cool down the air and send the mozzies scurrying for a warm place, I'm going to recommend they go visit my neighbour's house,they have outstayed their welcome at mine
 
Sue M

- ODPEM Media Advisory: Press Briefing to Update the Nation on the Impact of Hurricane Dean and the Recovery Efforts to Date
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:54:35 -0500

Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please see ODPEM Media Advisory re: above subject:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Media Advisory_Press Briefing_Friday, August 24, 2007.doc
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- Hurricane Dean pics
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:38:06 EDT
Title: AOL Email
Here are some amazing photos of Dean's wrath upon Jamaica, can you imagine if we had taken a direct hit:
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/uvesedwards/DeanWasMean/photo#s5100901674326612146 




Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.

- ODPEM Press Releases #s 24 & 25
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:27:38 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Releases #s 24 & 25:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release24_August 23, 2007.doc
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Attachment: Press Release25_August 23, 2007.doc
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- Southern and Eastern Jamaica totally devasted,Dean kills 3
  • From: Blayz Brooks <blayzbrooks at yahoo.com>
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:17:31 -0700 (PDT)
Power and water have been restored here in Montego
Bay,and much of northern Jamaica,as luckily,

We escaped the full wrath  of  Hurricane Dean and only
experienced Tropical Storm Conditions.

In my neighborhoodI have seen minor damage,a few tiles
off roofs blown off,large branches blown down, and
small trees like banana  blown down.

All the hotels are now reopened and yesterday,the
3000+  seater Royal Caribbean Cruiseliner arrived  and
there are already tourists booking hotels ,so life in
this section of Jamaica is life as usual, although we
are still experiencing plenty rains.

South and Eastern Jamaica were not as luck as we
were,they experienced Hurricane Conditions with gusts
up to Category 3 strength.

The television station CVM tvin Kingston recorded
sustained winds of 114 kpkp/71mph

Lionel Town,Clarendon reported 100mph gusts

The Norman Manley Airport officiallyeported 81mph
gusts before they stopped reporting.

There was an  unoffical report of sustained winds of
114mph with 138mph gusts,however this has not been
verified.

I recorded 50 mph winds here on my handheld anemometer
 before it got too dangerous and I went inside.

Some areas totally dedevastated

Many areas of Eastern and Southern Jamaica are totally
devastated there are hundreds of reports of persons
without roofs and even these persons are lucky as many
person's homes have been leveledy storm-surge.

According to the damage assetment thus far, in
Clarendon 56 per cent of houses were destroyed.


Housing in St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew
also sustained major damage of 30 and 14 per cent
respectively.

107 schools sustained serious damage.

Three persons have died resulting from the passage of 
Hurricane Dean.

A lady  was looking through her window during the
Hurricane ,When a large piece of wood flew through her
window ,piercing her in her chest.

A man's house was leveled by  the strong winds and
when residents removed the debris they found him dead.

A 15 year old girl was killed,Before the hurricane her
neighbors put building block on their roofs to keep
the Hurricane from taking the roofs,During the
Hurricane, the winds blew the building blocks off the
neighbors roofs onto theirs, the building blocks then
fell through the roof hit the girl in the head she
later died of a skull fracture.

The long road to recovery

It will likely be a long road to recovery,but we are a
resilient people and just like Ivan and Gilbert we
will pull together to pick up the pieces.

Already,there are reports of the true Jamaican Spirit
emerging,person checking on their neighbors people
helping people,with most of the traffic lights out
persons being courteous and allowing persons to go
ahead.

The  national power company,  The Jamaica Public
Service (JPSsays about 34 per cent or 190,000 of its
customers have had their electricity restored.
 

The light and power company says only four parishes
have not started to receive electricity.

Those parishes are St. Mary, Portland, St. Thomas and
St. Elizabeth.

The company says this is due to the extent of the
damage to its power delivery systems.

But the Company says water pumping facilities and
hospitals in these parishes will receive priority
attention today.

The national water company has been ,less successful
and is  still struggling to bring its water supply
systems back on line, the National Water Commission
(NWCsays it is trucking water to several communities
across the island free of cost.

A cargo plane with relief supplies valuing US$398,000
(J$27.86 million) arrived in the island yesterday from
the United States to assist persons affected by
Hurricane Dean.

The relief supplies, which were donated by the United
States Agency for International Development (USUSAID
include water containers, medicine, plastic sheeting,
and disaster hygiene kits, among other items.

U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Brenda LaLaGrangeohnson,
who received the supplies, which arrived in a white
air cargo plane at the Norman Manley International
Airport, said US$150,000 (J$10 million) of the goods
would be allocated to non-governmental
ororganisationsNGNGOs $1.7 million (US$25,000) for the
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency
Management and another US$100,000 ($6.9 million) of
the supplies would be sent to the Pan American Health
OrOrganisation



"We are so happy to make this start and we hope that
this is (only) the beginning," she said.

Ronald Jackson, director general of the ODODPEMwho
accepted the supplies, said they would be distributed
to the worst affected areas, such as Portland Cottage
and Rocky Point in Clarendon; Old HaHarbouray in St.
Catherine and Caribbean Terrace, Kingston.

"These items will go a far way in addressing those
priority needs that we have identified in these
communities," he said.

Focusing on the priorities

Mr. Jackson also appealed to persons who have been
affected to be patient. He said the agency would be
focusing on the priorities, which he has identified as
roofing. He said more than 1,500 roofs were affected
in three parishes on the south coast.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jackson said that some 2,500 persons
were still in shelters. He said the supplies would be
distributed through the NGNGOssuch as Salvation Army
and the Adventist Relief Agency.

Ambassador LaLaGrangeohnson said former ambassadors to
Jamaica, Sue Cobb, Glen Holden and herself, would be
donating $60,000 to begin a private fund with the
Missionaries of the Poor and the American Friends of
Jamaica to provide food and shelter to more than 1,000
families that lost their homes during the storm.

It was announced that $1 million jaja4,520 USUSDas
been allocated by the government to assist parishes
hardest hit by the hurricane while $500,000 (7,260
ususdwill go to other parishes.


My prayers go out to all who were affect by Hurricane
Dean.

Below:pictures from across the Island from various
media sources Gleaner,Star,Observer etc.


       
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Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the 
tools to get online.
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- ODPEM Press Release #23: UPDATE ON POPULATED SHELTERS ACROSS JAMAICA POST-HURRICANE DEAN
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:22:17 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #23:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release23_August 23, 2007.doc
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- Update OT
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:40:58 EDT
Title: AOL Email
We are doing fine here in Liguanea, we have all our services back and I hear that Negril is also back to business as usual!!!
However, 80% of power has not been restored islandwide, things are moving very slowly in terms of relief efforts and then there is the election which is very much up in the air at the moment(not to mention school opening dates)!!!
There are all sorts of links below to what is and isn't getting done here now:
My helper's family is staying with us until they get their house sorted out so we have a full house but are well stocked!!!
Best wishes to all during this recovery period...
Tracy




Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.

- ODPEM Press Releases # 21 22
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:08:03 -0500


Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release21_August 22, 2007.doc
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Attachment: Press Release22_August 22, 2007.doc
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- hmmmmm
  • From: <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:20:30 -0500
well, power was returned to the town of Ocho Rios late last night, many properties off the main road were not restored and my house is still deficient of current.

I have so many mozzies and their relatives taking up the space in my house that I think I am checking in to an hotel. I am still at work and the power to the town has just gone off again for the 3rd time today- they are having low voltage problems.

We received an announcement from JPS today that their is serious damage to their distribution lines in some areas and it may be a while before power is ablt to be restored for some.

My hubby in flying the cell company around has noticed some of thebig distribution towers collapsed on the ground and some of the large insulators hanging off. They are busy on the eastend of the island - have not yet been able to get to the south west affected areas.

We are currently having a nasty lightening and thunder storm, quite vicious out there. Maybe this will send the mozzies packing. Last night a land crab decided to take up residence in thehouse. It is so hot, that I am leaving the front doors open,so I think this is open invitation for all critters to come with belongings in tow. The dogs of course were not having any of this,however quickly found out that the crab claw on the nose sends them running to their Mumma, who was laughing her fool head off

Well, hurricanes with power outages I am now convinced are to force people to clean out all that stuff one hoards in their refrigerator. I found stuff in jars that I don't even remember buying. The dogs think this is wonderful as they are having all types of condiments with their meals. They must have cast iron stomachs is all I can say. One of them loves bananas and cucumbers and they both love avacadoes - Ital canines

Pouring down hard with rain at the moment, absolutely no visibility - time to head up the road and evict the unwanted tenants

Sue M


- stranded fishermen
  • From: <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:39:19 -0500
Below is a report from the Jamaica Gleaner today Wed Aug 22 regarding the fishermen who were stranded.

This has been a topic in both newspapers with many government agencies concerned as all the people on the Cays were put on notice by the JDF as per the article in the Gleaner Aug 20th - they were told to evacuate and made the decision to stay.

We will have to follow this one to see if legislation is put in place - these things are done for people's safety - not to put rescue teams in jeopardy. As reported, all 20 individuals survived

Sue M



Pedro Cays residents safe, still stubborn
published: Wednesday | August 22, 2007

Sajoune Rose, Gleaner Writer

Twenty residents who made desperate last-minute calls to be rescued from the Pedro Cays early Sunday morning, before the passage of Hurricane Dean, are safe and sound.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) on Monday visited the cays by air where all 20 individuals, 18 men and two women, remained.

But, surprisingly, as in the days leading up to the hurricane, they again refused to leave the cays.

The residents ignored warnings by the authorities to evacuate the cays only to find themselves begging to be rescued only a few hours before the hurricane hit land. Luckily this time, they were able to take refuge in the JDF's guard station at the cays and were therefore saved.

Their decision to remain

According to the JDF's Major Charlene Steer, an assessment team checked on the residents and, while it was determined that they were safe, she did not know whether they had adequate food or water supplies to sustain them on the cays. She, however, said it was their decision to remain.

"These are adults and they have made a decision to stay. In terms of their means, I don't know," she said. She further added that the community usually has small shops.

Minister of Local Government and Environment Dean Peart, and Jamaica Labour Party leader Bruce Golding both have agreed that forceful action should be used to get persons out of areas such as the cays when a disaster threatens.


- ODPEM Press Release #20: UPDATE ON POPULATED SHELTERS ACROSS JAMAICA
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:34:38 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #20:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release20_August 22, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Release #19
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:29:14 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #19:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release19_August 22, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Dean has left the island
  • From: sancia hudson <krazydee77 at yahoo.co.uk>
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:28:33 -0700 (PDT)
All is well here in Hopewell, Hanover, we thank God for sparing us. we have power and water back again and everything is back to normal. A few trees have fallen down but that's all.
My prayers go out to those in other parishes that were badly affected by hurricane dean, hoping they will recover soon.





S. Grant
Be Good Be Safe Be Smart
Life Is Short.



Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

- Update from Salem District, Runaway Bay
  • From: "Sheilah Forward" <forward at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:07:24 -0400

Finally, just as the last of the ice cubes had shrunk to little floaters in the trays…Current! The power came back at 6:35pm. Since we suffered little damage in my neighbourhood beyond the odd lost shingle, some branches and bushes, and poinciana blossoms, we couldn’t understand why it took so long to switch back our power. Since Monday morning we had heard optimistic rumours ranging from ‘this’ (Monday) morning through to a very pessimistic Saturday.

 

We have a south facing and west facing windows in our bedroom. We never closed them. We had wonderful cool zephyrs passing through. Even at the height of the storm when our east facing living room and kitchen were getting pounded, the bedroom was delightful. We played dominoes and watched the wind. Although we expected the storm to carry on for a much longer time, it was really blown out before dark. We couldn’t get an accurate idea of where the eye was throughout the afternoon – except south of Kingston and skirting the South Coast. At least it moved fairly quickly and without hesitation. Right here, Ivan was a much worse storm. Dean brought very little rain to our neighbourhood, so we never lost our water either.

 

When the cat woke up from his afternoon nap, I asked whether he wanted to go out – and pushed the door open just a crack. He gave me one of those ‘you must be kidding’ looks, as the unexpected ‘breeze’ set him back on his haunches. He decided to retire for another couple of hours.

 

Best wishes to all those who were not as lucky as we were.

 

S Forward


- ODPEM Press Releases #s 17 & 18
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:19:30 -0500

Good Evening Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Releases 17 and 18:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release17_August 21, 2007.doc
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Attachment: Press Release18_August 21, 2007.doc
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- ODPEM Press Release #16
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:16:46 -0500

Good Day Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached Press Release #16:



More updates will be provided during the day.

With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release16_August 21, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- More Kingston Info
  • From: "Benavides, Nelson" <Nelson.Benavides at pegs.com>
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:58:46 -0700

The message below was sent by the Sales Director of the 2 hotels below:

 

Please note both The Courtleigh Hotel & Suites and The Knutsford Court Hotel ran at about 90% occupancy and remained fully operational during the passage of Hurricane Dean. We continue to run at full-service in all areas including the provision of full electricity and water service.

 

The hotels sustained little to no damage and all our customers were comfortable throughout.

 

Airport service has resumed at both the Norman Manley International and the Sangster International airport. However, not all flight schedules are back to normal.

 

Currently, electricity is being restored in some sections of the capital city of Kingston and some business offices have reopened as of today.

 

 

Nelson Benavides

Utell Hotels & Resorts


- Fabulous Day
  • From: <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:18:37 -0500
Morning all from Ochi

The sky is blue, the sea is flat and there is an ever so slight breeze blowing. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with our neighbours in the Yucatan Peninsula

Things are coming along, JPS is still assessing the electricity situation and there is talk that someareas may begin to receive current later today. The Governor General declared a State of Emergency on Saturday and that is still in effect, as such we have dusk to dawn curfews in place to contain any folks who may have an idea of looting. The police department in Ocho rios is taking this very seriously so every one knows - be off the streets before dusk and don't try to come out and get up to any nonsense.

Sleeping at the moment is miserable with no jiuce, it is very warm - hmmmmmm, no it's damn hot and the mozzies in my house have invited all their relatives to come for a visit. I have been burning the mozzie coils, but am not sure how good they are for one's health. I sleep in the chair in the living room, the chair on the deck, and even sometimes in the bed. Can only sleep for about an hour at a time before waking up drenched with a head that feels like a cement block.

Before the next storm comes, I WILL have either battery operated fans or those battery packs that can operate small appliances for about 12 hours. I can handle all the rest that goes with having no power, but the lack of fans is no longer on my list.

I estimate having about 3 more days of fuel left to run the big generator at Island Village, extra fuel is not yet available, - we will cross that bridge when we cometo it. In the mean time, I am at work before 6am so I can have tea then coffee and something warm to eat. We have a large freezer which weuse for functions, so we have all deposited our frozen goods in it. Fun will be seeing what we all get back

I have a wonderful looking couch inmy office and air conditioning, so if this goes on much longer, I am moving in here, we have the showers for the beach, only think missing is laundry facilities, can't have everything.

Once again, thoughts and prayers going from Ochi to the Yucatan

Sue M


- ODPEM Press Release #15
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:30:45 -0500

Good Morning Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached Pres Release #15 from the ODPEM:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release15_August 20, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- See The Fury Of Hurricane Dean in video clips OT OT OT
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:46:20 EDT
Title: AOL Email




Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.

- RE: Jamaicans are 100% ready for Dean
  • From: "George Scarlett" <george.scarlett at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:49:09 -0500

I decided to wait awhile before making an update. I live in Portmore and had the minor misfortune of my neigbour’s ackee tree coming down in my yard. I also had my solar panels shifted. I managed to get both of these corrected/cleared by mid-day. I tried going on the road and encounter quite a few trees being down but it was great to see the community coming together to have this debris cleared and neatly packed away awaiting removal.

 

I managed to get to Old Harbour and Port Esquivel. I noted that the kind of community involvement seen elsewhere was not evident in Old Harbour. Dean seem to have had a greater impact on plants – agricultural and otherwise – and utility poles than on buildings. There were a few homes (that I saw) with damages and for the most part this was restricted to minor damages to roof.

 

Below is an update from the ODEPM

 

Damage caused by Hurricane Dean - Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency
Management (ODPEM) 
August 20, 2007
 
 
Parishes 
 
St. Thomas: extensive damage has been reported from several communities.
Significant wind damage to roofs, storm surges, flooding, collapsed structures,
impassable roadways are among the many reports. 
 
St. James: the community of Coral Gardens is severely affected by wind damage. 
 
Kingston and St. Andrew: severe wind damage and downed power lines in the
Riverton city area. Also, a fallen tree caused the collapse of a residential
building in the Chambers Lane Area of Liguanea, St. Andrew. 
 
Clarendon: flooding has been reported from the Denbigh gully. 
 
Portland: several roadways in Port Antonio, Manchioneal, Mount James and Mount
Airy in Buff Bay are blocked. 
 
St. Mary: several roadways from Junction to Broadgate are impassable, blocked by
fallen trees. 
 
St. Catherine: storm surges have been reported along the Port Henderson road in
Portmore rendering the roadway impassable along with roof damage in the
communities of Naggo Head and Newland. The Newland Road is also impassable due
to a fallen utility pole. Additionally, sections of the roadway have been eroded
in Hellshire due to storm surges and rising water levels have been reported in
Old Harbour forcing the evacuation of several persons. 
 
 
Services 
 
Telecommunications: cellular telephone lines are down in sections of Portland,
St. Mary, and Clarendon and there is no communication link with St. Thomas with
efforts are underway to re-establish this. 
 
Electricity: well over 125,000 Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) customers
are without power supply. 
 
Water Supply: there have been reports of damage to water supply systems.
 
Source: Gleaner/Power 106 News 

.

 

I have attached a few pictures of some of the worse bit I saw:

  • The Hellshire Beach home of the best fish meal on the island  - seem as if the sea is reclaiming some sections of that beach
  • The Hellshire Main Road – most of the utility poles went down or are tilled (I saw some road clearing work being done)
  • Old Harbour – Damage done to a building and zinc wrapped on a electric wires.

 

Attachment: Dean 029.jpg
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Attachment: Dean 031.jpg
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Attachment: Dean 032.jpg
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Attachment: Dean 033.jpg
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Attachment: Dean 042.jpg
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Attachment: Dean 044.jpg
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- More info about Jamaica (fwd)
  • From: Gert van Dijken <gert at vandijken.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:01:26 -0400 (EDT)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:48:52 -0700
From: "Benavides, Nelson" <Nelson.Benavides at pegs.com>
To: Gert van Dijken <gert at vandijken.com>
Subject: More info about Jamaica

Hello again



In conversation with a business partner that lives in Kingston she told
me that properties didn't damages, some incidents might had happened in
the residential areas as the biggest problem there was not the rain, but
the winds... No power,  No water but it seems that the damages were not
too bad.



Superclub's VP also informed me that their hotels suffered minimal
damages in some cabanas, located in the beaches  due to the hurricane
but all hotels are open, as they are working with generators. All
Superclubs Hotels' guest and employees are safe.



Thanks



Nelson Benavides

Utell Hotels & Resorts






- Kingston
  • From: Corinne.Smith at digicel.blackberry.com
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:03:03 +0000
Hi all. Must be brief to save battery juice. trees are down and I heard about a 
few roofs gone or damaged. Airport road is buried in sand and stone and min. Of 
works has heavy equipment out trying to clear it. May be a few days. No power 
or water yet. Beautiful afternoon though. 
Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Digicel

- Montego Bay
  • From: Gert van Dijken <gert at vandijken.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:58:15 -0400 (EDT)

Someone forwarded me the following -Gert


I would like to share info about Montego Bay, sent by a Hotel located in
that area.


"We have no structural damage. Just fallen leaves and trees, we are in
the cleaning up process and will remain open. We have no power at this
time, it should be back in a day or two but we are OK."


*
**
*** Gert van Dijken ( gert at vandijken.com )
**** Caribbean Hurricane Network - http://stormcarib.com



- After Dean...
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:36:15 EDT
Title: AOL Email
All is quiet around Liguanea...generators are only sound!!!  Looks like the cable co is putting dishes back up and cars are going by but I have not ventured out as we are still trying to get the house back to normal here.
C&W rocks, we never lost cell or landlines and even DSL came back late last night!!!
Not much more to post, I have not heard anything today about anything but we are all fine and life is almost back to normal(will be when power is restored) and meanwhile we have the generator.
Tracy




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- More news
  • From: <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:29:27 -0500
Early afternoon in Ochi, little overcast, quite cool and the sea has a few waves rippling over the top. Getting reports from the different agencies coming in via radio

JPS - electric still assessing main lines for damage - no word yet on phased reconnections

DIGICEL - service in some areas - crews are at the cell sites filling generators and assessing damages

Cable & Wireless - well hard to know - in our area one entire hub is down but we are unable to contact them to let them know

Water Commission - water is on line in Ochi and surrounds

The shops and businesses are cleaning up any debris and slowly opening their doors, I would expect Ochi to be fully open tomorrow.

This was a strange storm - the winds in Ochi reached around 100mph, but there was very little rain with the storm, which is great as the threat of flooding here was dramatically lessened. It is amazing how far over some trees can bend and never break. It was so hot in my cave so I had the back door open during the storm, this is very protected, so we were okay, I set up the wicker chairs in the kitchen and the dogs and i had our own hurricane party. We watched the entire storm through the back door and occasionally ventured out, the dogs did not think much of the whole thing and when one limb cracked and fell, you would have thought there were 10 people in the yard with the amount of barking that came out of them.

The storm just sort of fizzled about 9pm, there was a lull and I was waiting for it to kick back up again, but it never happened. I must have fallen asleep about that time and woke up at 2:30 this morning - so hot with all the cave enclosed, no fans and mosquitoes renting out every inch of my cottage. I couldn't hear any wind and the sea sounded fairly good, so out of my bed I get, armed myself with hammer and cordless drill and made my way round the outside of the house to the front. Took down all the boards and opened up the frondoors.

my living room has large wood and glass doors that open up in a concertina fashion so the entire wall of my living room is one big hole. The cool air coming in was like heaven, so by 2:45AM breeze was blowing through my house again. i think I will have to set up sleeping quarters on the front porch until the electricity comes back on, it is way too hot in the house.

My staff all managed to make their way in to work this morning and are sweeping up leaves and a few limbs, fortunately we have a large generator and a Wifi connection, so I have contact with the outside world. Margaritaville will be open tonight as will the movie theater, so we are good to go. To all of you who sent emails, thoughts and prayers - IT WORKED, Dean decided to just give us a brushing. Jamaica is truly a blessed island and we have friends all over the worlld.

I have heard that winds of 134 mph were clocked in kingston, although have not had that 100% confirmed. Several people I have spoken to said they have never experienced winds of that magnitude.

Sangster airport is now open on a limited basis and in full tomorrow. Montego Bay and Negril are sweeping up and will be operational 100% tomorrow as well. Still waiting for word on the Treasure Beach area, not able to get any contact through to there.

Our thoughts and prayers are to all those in Dean's path - hopefully you will get through

Sue M


- greetings from Ochi
  • From: <sue.island at cwjamaica.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:52:36 -0500
Morning all

What a glorious day - even though we have a likkle bit of drizzle right now, this is certainly a beautiful morning.

We suffered very LITTLE damage in this area - heavy, heavy winds but very little rain. There are some trees down, but the council crews have been on the road from the very wee hours of the morning, getting them cleared.

JPS is going through and inspecting all the lines - once they are clear, power will be restored, we are hoping for the main lines to be in order tomorrow - the secondaries will take longer.

we started the generator at Island Village this morning - so everyone was lining up to make tea and coffee.

Well yesterday afternoon got a bit exciting at times, but nowhere near as bad as what we were expecting - many thanks Dean for diving to our south. Kingston had very heavy winds and damages are being assessed.

S.Ann's Bay isn good shape - Portland was hit hard with flooding, houses destroyed, roads blocked. treasure Beach was also hit hard, waitig to hear the extent

Everyone is out sweeping up and getting rid of tree limbs, I saw very few downed trees onmy way to work this morning, but many limbs torn off We are in good shape andback to normal except for electricity insme areas tomorrow

Sue M


- ODPEM Press Release #14
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:35:11 -0500

Good Day Everyone,

There was a problem with Press Release #14. Here it is again for your benefit:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release14_August 19, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- ODPEM Press Releases #s 13 & 14
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:51:26 -0500

Good Night Ladies & Gentlemen,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Releases #s 13 & 14 concerning Jamaica and Hurricane Dean:



With kind regards,

Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release14_August 19, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data

Attachment: Press Release13_August 19, 2007.doc
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- Gunshots...can anyone see anything???
  • From: NegrilTracy at aol.com
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:20:38 EDT
Title: AOL Email
We just heard gunshots but cannot see anything from here so are afraid to open the door, it is SO dark out there with hardly any lights anywhere.
I have spoken to people in Negril now, Digicell is back up there now and DSL is also restored at Hedonism (mine is also back on here)!!!
PM and Gov Gen have declared a state of emergency according to the radio, I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how bad things are???
Widespread looting is being reported and the curfew is being strictly enforced.
No one I have spoken to has had bad damage except my helper's yard in Waltham is pretty mashed up we heard?!?!?!
I think I am going to get some sleep now that it is past us, I have been up for days now getting ready...
Tracy




Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.

- ODPEM News Release #12: IMPACT OF HURRICANE DEAN
  • From: KMorris at odpem.org.jm
  • Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:05:19 -0500

Giood Day Everyone,

Please see attached ODPEM Press Release #12:



Kerry-Ann Morris
Information Officer
Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)
12 Camp Road, Kingston 4
Tel: (876) 928-5111-4 * Fax: (876) 928-5503 * Email: kmorris at odpem.org.jm
"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Mother Teresa

Attachment: Press Release12_August 19, 2007.doc
Description: Binary data


- Negril update
  • From: "Richard May" <rmay.eng at gmail.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:20:05 +0000
Just spoke with my brother in Negril and he said it is deadly quiet there ... I 
assume Dean is planning the same sneak attack he threw on Kingston today. One 
large gust that essentially never stopped gusting ... no build-up to the main 
event! 5ean should be south of the border of St. Elizabath and Westmoreland now 
so I would recalculate my last timing to put Dean south of Negril point at 
midnight instead of 11pm.

Gone again!
Richard M.
Sent via BlackBerry.  


- Moving out west ...
  • From: "Richard May" <rmay.eng at gmail.com>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:02:05 +0000
Hello all. Dean has moved away from Kingston and should be just south of Negril 
point by about 11pm (1hr from now). Kingston is still having gusts and sporadic 
rains as the rest of the TS force wind field passes over the eastern end of the 
island. I have heard no reports of any human casualties but ofcourse its far 
too early to be conclusive ... We can only hope that there will be none.

Given what I have observed today just looking out the windows of my apartment, 
I am honestly afraid to go look at Kingston tomorrow morning! I am thinking 
Ivan in damage but feeling Gilbert in devastation ... I am so hoping that I am 
wrong this time.

East Jamaica goes to sleep now with minutely wind gusts of about 45 knots, 
continuous drizzling rains and no electricity or water ... Some houses are 
without roofs, all the shelters are occupied (but they are not overcrowded), 
and the knowledge that the sun will come out tomorrow! It will certainly not be 
business as usual, I will take my camera and go get you some footage as soon as 
I can be mobile i.e. if CNN and the Weather Channel don't beat me to it!

Portland, St. Thomas, St. Mary, St. Ann, Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine 
... all are now in the winding down phase. We anticipate much rainfall into 
Tuesday and not much work (if any) on Monday.

Best regards and thank you all for hanging in there with us. God bless!
Richard M.
Sent via BlackBerry.  

Older reports from Jamaica have been moved to another page.

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