- Updates from the Islands -

- - Turks & Caicos Islands - -

- - - 2005 Hurricane Season - - -

- Hurricane Wilma and Tropical Storm Alpha

From: "Peter & Margaret Jones" <pelicanprovo at express.tc>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:13:01 -0400

Providenciales was caught by surprise when Hurricane Wilma appeared with a spectacular display of lightning and thunder and seven inches of rain overnight on Tuesday 18th. Roads were flooded across the island, some buildings in low-lying areas were flooded, a few cars submerged, and one person was reportedly stranded in his house without power or water and rescued by the fire department. Power, TV and telephone outages occurred but these were restored in a few days. A tornado in Turtle Cove lifted a container, turned it around and dumped it back onto the carpark. It could have been a great deal worse and may have served a good purpose as a wake-up call as our islands are seldom seriously affected.

Thankfully Alpha brought only good rain for an hour or so to Providenciales. The sun is shining once again, the native vegetation sparkling and refreshed and the seas are calm. It's a beautiful day.

Margaret Jones

- Provo - Wilmas rain from feeder bands last week

From: "TR" <survey at tciway.tc>
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 09:32:22 -0400

Hi Gert,

The floods we had last week on Provo have now subsided and the passage of Alpha to the west of us last night gave us but a few showers... nothing like the thunderstorm last week.

Thought you might like a few photos of the flooding last week... would have got them to you sooner but forgot where the site was.

Will be quicker next time.

5 Cays Road

Chivalry is not dead after all. (road at side of Walkin Marine) Note the bus exhaust blowing bubbles.

Submarines at S. Dock By-pass (Industrial/Commercial area)

Butterfield Square... Downtown passable

Provo Plaza (diversion through the Pizza Pizza car park due to stranded cars blocking the road heading West.

Walkin Marine

Provo Plaza (Pizza Pizza)

Sarah's (Downtown)

Opposite Provo Plaza (Piza Piza)

My Drive

Turtle Cove Landing

The wine may be a little watery for a few weeks

All for now.

Terry

==========================

- Alpha in TCI

From: "Captain" <captain at tciway.tc>
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 22:46:55 -0400

Hi Gert, It's been a long time. Hope all is well with you.
Our best wishes for those hit and about to be hit by hurricane Wilma.

To be honest with you I'm not ready for Alpha with such short notice.  As my
wife put it the other day "We not only make hurricanes here, we make them
better."

Wilma's little offspring the other day was a wicked little quickie that
surprised the you know what out of me. While Grand Turk faired ok with some
mild flooding and an incredible light(ning) show, Provo had major issues. We
spent the other day wet-vac'ing mud out of my office there. We had 2 boats
under repair flood to the gunwale and they were on shore. The Caicos Islands
had some areas of serious flooding. Power & phone disruptions were
widespread.

Personally I can put up with "some" freshwater flooding, but there is no
place to put any more water, either in tanks or in the soaked ground. While
I am worried about Alpha's rains on the residents of Dominican Republic and
Haiti, I hope Hispaniola knocks Alpha out.

Kirk Graff
captain at tciway.tc

- Turks & Caicos Islands

From: tburant at tciway.tc
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 22:34:52 -0500 (EST)

Life has pretty much returned to normal now. TCI is a wonderful place and
when a situation happens, folks just make the best of it. The situation
has probably helped us to better understand where the vulnerable spots are
on our roads (which are fine now). As far as I know all the resorts are
doing great and the beach is lovely as ever.

It was absolutely beautiful today so I don't want anyone to panic over
travel plans.

TB

- Update

From: tburant at tciway.tc
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:27:28 -0500 (EST)

Dear Gert (and Dave),

First of all, thanks for your invaluable site. It's been a "Godsend" to
many of us. Please always know your tireless efforts are appreciated!

Just wanted to pass along a photo I made here in Provo today to show the
rain associated with this storm (as it brushed by us Tuesday night). There
were several unfortunate drivers who found themselves (and their
passengers) swimming to safety last night as a result of what seemed to be
Wilma's outer bands reaching all the way over to TCI, causing isolated
flooding. So far, I've not heard of any injuries and the road situation
improved greatly over the course of the day. Everyone is just bewildered
at the intensity of what happened rather suddenly. We are grateful this is
all that happened and continue to pray for those who will be in its direct
path.

Terri

Attachment: richmond submarine.jpg
Description: JPEG image

- Turks & Caicos Islands

From: Keith Burant <mtcl at tciway.tc>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:13:49 -0500

Dear Gert,

Not certain if you have heard or can post. The Turks & Caicos Islands were subject to an intense thunderstorm last night and power is still off. Power went off at 7:00 pm and has not been restored to most of the Islands. Many businesses are temporarily closed as the lack of power and flooding has disrupted the Island. I am told that there are no reported deaths and that power should be restored later today.

Regards

Keith Burant

- Rita.

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 01:06:12 -0400

Ok, well now we are in the throes of Rita. All day nothing but cloud cover and then by 9pm some lightning activity. By midnight the wind and rain picked up and it's going full force now. Thankfully for us it is early days for Rita. Good luck Bahamas, Cuba etc! Take care.

- #18

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:01:09 -0400

Well it looks like the bad weather is staying to the north of us here in Providenciales. Still very overcast but very little rain and no wind at all. Not yet anyway. Hopefully it stays that way.

- Tropical Storm?

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 07:17:19 -0400

From weather.com - "Tropical Depression 18 formed at 11 p.m. on Saturday night. It has become more organized during the overnight hours and has seen an increase in shower and thunderstorm activity. T.D. 18 is forecast to become a tropial storm in the next 24 hours at which time it would be given the name Rita. The center of this system is located about 15 miles north-northwest of Grand Turk Island and is moving towards the west at 12 mph. Tropical storm warnings have been issued for the Turks and Caicos and the central and southeast Bahamas. Hurricane watches are now in effect for the northwest Bahamas."

Just cloud cover so far. No wind, rain or thunderstorms as yet. A beautiful cool morning.

Joan

Attachment: IMG_0058_5_1.JPG
Description: JPEG image

- Singing in the Rain!

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 08:37:48 -0400

Well I was singing in the rain last night at some karaoke...ooops.

Nothing but glorious rain here. My water tank is actually overflowing right now...I could sell water. Anyway, it's great. The place has cooled down wonderfully thank the Lord. The island is soooo green it's beautiful. Especially when we have a reputation for being "dry and dusty"! We LOVE rain in TCI.

- Rumbles

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 07:00:12 -0400

Morning,

We had rain through the night and now we are are experiencing very dark skies and lots of rumbling thunder. Nice and cool too. I love it. I imagine it will clear up later though.

On another note, we are keeping an eye on the 'sort of' Depression # 10. Watch this space.

Joan

- Emily

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 07:26:32 -0400

Ok this is not fair. Frances ruined our wedding anniversary trip to Vegas last year and now it looks like Emily may put a stop to my South Beach shopping spree this weekend! I know we should avoid the storms but we prefer to be here prepping the house and taking care of our two dogs. Can't leave them to face a storm while we're living it up on Ocean Drive....

Hopefully she takes a turn and spins off into the Atlantic or something but will keep watching closely. Weather is beautiful right now and the island is busy with lots of visitors. Hope it stays like that!

Later.

Joan

- rain rain and more rain

From: "Ger and Joan" <gerandjoan at tciway.tc>
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 16:12:35 -0400

Hi everyone,

This is my first post of the season. We have had a weekend of mixed weather here on Providenciales. A lot of rain on Sunday morning which cleared up to make for a beautiful (but hot!) Sunday afternoon. Today, Monday, it does not seem like it's going to ease up at all. I am in the Leeward area of the island (north eastern end) and we have had non stop heavy rain since the am. In the last half hour we are getting a lot of thunder and lightning also. I see a disturbance south of Haiti is being monitored so will keep a close eye on that.

Later.

Joan