- - Cayman Islands - -

Hurricane IKE’s Closest Point of Approach for Cayman Brac is HERE NOW.

Gusty Winds veering out of SW - WNW at about 15 - 25 MPH (Gust of approx 37.8 MPH recorded, at West End, at approximately 3.30 PM today – highest gust in last hour has been 31.1 MPH).

Barometer rising

Experiencing some wind driven rain and totally overcast skies with cloud base at 1808’ ASL. Surprisingly little rain so far.

Waves on SE Side may be at about 3-4’ with white caps slanting down the Iron Shore from a SW direction.

At this time – certainly feels more windy and stormy (how’s that for hi-tech descriptions J) than any time previously today.

I am sure that conditions on the North Side are rougher but, have already done two trips over there today and am now dry and warm in my house, so will let Carol B report on what is happening there.

MB

ALL MESSAGES FROM THIS SENDER HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO FULL NORTON ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS

Winds are now increasing slightly; essentially, out of the West-veering WSW - WNW at about 12-20 MPH (Gust of approx 31 MPH recorded, at West End, in last hour).

No rain at this time and in fact it is sunny but high cloud bands (2800’ ASL) are clearly visible.

Waves SE Side may be at about 2’ and small white caps starting to appear.

At this time – really quite a pleasant day on the Brac.

Various Businesses and Govt Admin etc intending to close down earlier than normal and shutters are up.

MB  

ALL MESSAGES FROM THIS SENDER HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO FULL NORTON ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS

Seems as though the Outer Fringes of Hurricane IKE may already be affecting Cayman Brac – just had a gusty and heavy rain shower pass over and thunder continues to rumble in background.

Wind appears to be out of NW and at this time is gentle and cooling – may have gusted to 15 MPH during recent shower – sea is calm but small wave motion already setting in from the West seemingly – that always look so strange and obvious on the SE Side of the Brac .

Skies are leaden grey horizon to horizon and there are definitely more rain showers/squalls imminent.

Still feel that this is going to be a bout of unpleasant weather for us as opposed to a “roaring storm” – hope I am right – but eyes open just in case.

MB

ALL MESSAGES FROM THIS SENDER HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO FULL NORTON ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS

Hi everyone,

The Cayman islands are on TS watch.  Info can be found on www.caymannetnews.com.  Cayman airways has also cancelled the following flights because they are expecting foul weather soon.

• KX102 GCM-MIA (Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2008)
• KX103 MIA-GCM (Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2008)
• KX2832 GCM-HAV (Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2008)
• KX2833 HAV-GCM (Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2008)

http://www.caymanairways.com/company/press-releases/hurricane-ike-update1  for more info.

I was doing day-2 of my open water diving certification today ... wow ... I should have done this sooner. It was a fabulous day to go diving today and the water is so clear!  Amazing!!!

Cheers

Micho

My blog about life in Grand Cayman

http://cayman.micho.org

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

Some pictures of where I was diving today J

At this time, cannot find anything on CI Gov Web Sites – Cayman Prepared etc, nor, have I received the supposed e-mail advisory???

Helen – where did u hear this information and what was actually said barring TS Watch declared – cannot even get Radio Cayman where I live on the Brac.

Not particularly worried at this stage - spoke with certain clients yesterday and sent a Notice out to them late evening advising them that Cayman would experience some effects from Ike.

Waiting and watching to see what Cuba does to Ike (strength and track) and what effects Jamaica goes thru.

MB  

ALL MESSAGES FROM THIS SENDER HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO FULL NORTON ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS

POST GUSTAV – SISTER ISLANDS UPDATE

Please note that I am on CYB so information on LYB is by means of statements form appropriate parties and Island residents are more likely to be able to paint a proper picture of how it is on LYB.

CYB - Electrical Power - CBPL:

100% recovered – may be slight outages as unexpected problems are uncovered and or Connections to residences are made (replacement of Weather Heads is an electrician’s job and not the responsibility of CBPL). 6 Poles were downed (1 on Bluff, 1 on West Bluff Rd [to Airport near Water Authority], 4 in SW area).

Very rapid recovery achieved for major part of North Side and SE Side well within 24 hours of GUSTAV Strike – gr8 work!!

LYB – Electrical Power – CBPL:

85% recovered – Power restored to all Hotels, Condos, Restaurants and Govt Buildings. 11 Poles downed and 5 damaged and need to be replaced.

CUC “reinforcements” from GCM  deployed to LYB which needed the most work.

Congratulations to all at CBPL on CYB & LYB for hard work in hot sticky weather!!

CYB – Communications – Cable & Wireless:     

Cell system essentially remained up throughout; International Fibre/Cable links remained up throughout.  

98% recovered – work continues hard to achieve 100% ASAP. Met a C&W crew on SE Side, yesterday afternoon, by the side of the road carrying out Fibre Optic Splicing on a temporary table in the blazing sunshine – not ideal conditions by any means – but gr8 work guys!  

LYB – Communications – Cable & Wireless

75% recovered – work continues hard to achieve 100% ASAP.

C&W “reinforcements” from GCM  deployed to LYB which needed the most work.

Note that C&W tend to be slightly behind Power Company in some areas as they need CBPL to restore/replace Poles in order to rehang/replace phone lines.

CYB – Water Authority

Water Authority had to temporarily shut down some service in order to repair broken Pipes/Taps (on smashed Piers etc) in order to prevent continual loss of water pressure in the systems – this has been achieved although other “surprises” may still occur.

CYB – Clean Up  

Hard work by, and cooperation between Public Works, DEH and “joe blow citizen” have achieved marvels and parts of the Island are fresh and pristine again.

CYB- Law & Order

Police were obviously present throughout – but, thankfully, I have not heard of them having to deal with any unruly events! Thanks to RCIP and all other Agencies who played a part in helping to ensure our safety.

CYB – People

Seemingly pretty much back to normal and going about their daily work, interspersed for some, by hours of “sweat equity” with chain saws, yard brooms etc.

General Impressions

It would seem that SW CYB and all of LYB were in the Right Front Quadrant of GUSTAV and suffered the most damage – for a change, the damage to the SE of CYB was relatively light. Although I have no figures to categorically prove it, some damages look as thought they resulted from Winds in excess of Cat 1 Force Winds – rumours abound of 120MPH Gusts but I cannot state any facts on this

Mike B

ALL MESSAGES FROM THIS SENDER HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO FULL NORTON ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS

I have the following information from a Bracker who lives on the Brac and has been through Gustav. There have not been many postings from the Sister Islands as everyone there is very busy and concerned about clean up, trying to restore plants that have uprooted and taking care of their properties and businesses. She says:

“I was out today on work related matters in Cayman Brac. There has been some damage to some houses on the South Side in particular however, there have been no reports of any fatalities and most people are now in recovery mode - clearing fallen trees, repairing roof damage, power lines are being repaired. www.caymannewsservice.com is an excellent source of up to date news.”

In addition she has tried to identify some of the photos of Cayman Brac that were recently posted (Do not let me know if they are incorrect – this is best efforts on her part!):

Cayman Brac

Power is back to about 95% of the Island.  Roads are pretty much cleared and things are getting back to normal.    Most businesses  opened for business today and everyone is working together to get things cleaned up around the Island. 

Little Cayman (as reported by Richard McElhannon)

From Kingston Bight and the Power Plant going west there is now full power except Spot Bay Road.  There is no power from the Crossroad going east.  Public works arrived today and they have commenced cleaning all the roads of debris.  A crew from CUC arrived to assist Little Cayman  Power and Light with their tremendous task.  The Bank has now been relocated until the Village Square complex gets a new roof. A few roads (dirt) were washed away and there are still numerous power poles down blocking roads. No homes had any major damage, mainly roof shingles, tiles etc. 

Dee MacKenzie

I decided to go for a drive around the east end & north side loop of Grand Cayman.  Although there is not that much damage just like the rest of the island, they did get more wind/wave action from what I can see.

On the Queens Highway, probably the worse of what happened ; about 10-15 utility poles were knocked down which would explain the power failure there.  The utility company has already planted new poles and will most likely have everything in order by this afternoon.  Bravo!

Morritt’s sign took a bit of a beating.

Then east end public beach is littered with rock, coral and seaweed.

The kite surfing dudes are out today.  Quit windy in the east end (often is …)

Nice jump!

Gorgeous day today.  Nice warm and sunny.  All the best to the people in Gustav’s track.  It’s not going to be pretty L

Micho

My blog about life in Cayman

http://cayman.micho.org

Hi again,

Thought I would share a picture of Gustav High Resolution Visual at CAT 3 as he initially passed over Cuba earlier today. Quite an amazing photograph, I hope it attaches when I send.

Regards,

Chris

Location – George Town, next to the Owen Roberts Airport

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well out there. I must say it is such a quiet night tonight compared to last night this same time. Today was a very hectic day after the all clear was given to the Island. We spent many busy hours at work reorganizing and rescheduling crew and aircraft from an Evacuation Schedule to a hopefully normal schedule operation starting tomorrow Sunday August 31.

Today we brought our aircraft back to Grand Cayman from Miami and Tampa starting at around 2:00 pm. We then scheduled a flight to Cayman Brac to take the CUC Electrical line workers and other residents up to assist with the damage in the Sister Islands. In addition we operated our scheduled evening flight to and from Miami. Although a lot of thought and planning has gone into the change over plan to Normal Operation, I am sure it will actually take a few days to settle back down to what was normal before Gustav.

Grand Cayman – No further reports of any problems as the day progressed. At around 2:00 pm we had a torrential downpour island wide which lasted about 45 minutes. As the evening came on the skies were filled with a high cirrus overcast and some scattered Cumulus rain clouds straggling behind Gustav passed by. Tonight a very short and brief rain at about 9:00 pm.

Current Conditions – Winds Southerly at 12-18 MPH. Temperature 83 degrees. Pressure 1006 mb slight fall trend. Cloud Base Scattered at 1400 feet AMSL and a high overcast.

Cayman Brac /Little Cayman – More confirmation was received about the damage in the sister islands as the day progressed. Cayman Brac only has lights east of the Power Plant on the north coast, all other areas are without power. Line personnel advised me this evening that they expect to get the hotels on the south side back with power by tomorrow evening. Most damage reported in the Brac was water damage to places along the south coast of the island. The majority of the docks and beach bars at these establishments were also destroyed.

Little Cayman got the worst of it all and are still without power island wide. Most of the hotels and homes on the south coast also experienced water damage and in some case had the beach as a part of the interior décor. I was told that all the docks in Little Cayman are either gone or have major damage. On both islands lots of vegetation damage as would be expected.

Current Conditions – Winds Southeasterly at 8-15 MPH. Temperature 80 degrees. Pressure 1005 and steady. Cloud Base Scattered at 1400 feet AMSL and high overcast.

Well as you all know Gustav did make the CAT 2 as it passed Cayman and sped away intensifying very rapidly to now what is a major CAT 4 hurricane, and no reason around to slow it down now since it has cleared Cuba. Everything in its path now is nothing but warm Gulf waters which allows it to maintain or build strength. I expect to see Gustav reach CAT 5 before the Gulf Coast but will not maintain the status very long, as there is an area of much warmer water midway between his present position and the coastline. Arrival at the Gulf Coast I am forecasting to be somewhere between Beaumont, Galveston and Corpus Christi, will be at a strong CAT 4. Pin pointing a smaller area of contact is very difficult now as there is no steering factors so he is wide open on his own momentum. My forecast is only based on earth’s rotating gravitational effect, some warmer areas of water, and a little addition of the upper level flow pattern. Other than that, flip a coin.

I will check in tomorrow sometime, but I will be busy back at the airline most of the day with continuing to put the operation back into full swing. Everyone take care and have a good night.

Regards,

Chris

From Little Cayman,

Storm has passed but still getting squalls on and off.  Village Square lost it’s roof, many homes lost shingles, power poles down all over the Island and a lot of debris everywhere.

Richard McElhannon

Hi Everyone,

I waited to see the wind switch last night to confirm that Gustav was moving away which I finally went in at 3:30 am. Been busy calling family and my flight crew to make sure all okay with them, hence my late post.

Grand Cayman – We had windy condition and a maximum indicated wind in gusts of around 70 MPH. Have not heard of any major damage on grand Cayman. Not much rain was experienced here in Cayman and not surprised as Gustav was intensifying and pulling everything to the center when crossing the area. No fatalities reported.

Cayman Brac and Little Cayman – The Sister Islands experienced very high winds and definitely took a big blow. I monitored winds in excess of 75 MPH via a link, however I got a report that the Aston Rutty anemometer recorded 90 MPH in gusts. Both Islands are without power and major utility damage, poles, lines, etc. Resort damage reported in Little Cayman and most docks damaged or gone. No fatalities reported.

Have to get to the airline to organize operations. Will advise further info as soon as I get some spare time, maybe this evening.

Gustav is pulling northwest and intensifying rapidly as I thought he would.

Talk later,

Best regards to all,

Chris

From Stake Bay, Cayman Brac

Gustav has pretty much passed by but still getting heavy rains and wind squalls.  Damage to the North Shore is mainly downed trees, damage to roofs and power lines in the road everywhere.  South Shore took it hard with Brac  Reef’s dock and dock bar gone, Divi’s dock gone, power poles across the road (including transformers), boats up on shore, etc.  We just got power back on this side of the Island but will take awhile I think for the south side.  Cleanup crews are already out working in the rain to remove trees and debris from the road.  Power company workers have been out since early this a.m. fighting the battle. 

Dee MacKenzie

We just had a very quick look around outside but we didn’t get too far as we were hit with fairly heavy wind and rain from the west as we went around the front of the house! From what we can see everything looks good around us and close by homes in Governor’s Harbour  (Grand Cayman). At a quick glance the rain has prevented everything from going brown as it did following Dean last year.  Our most recent report from the Cayman Islands Emergency Operations Centre at 5AM states Grand Cayman can expect to experience TS force winds until around 1PM (Sister Islands until 9AM), and over the next 24 hours waves heights of 14-16ft and rain through to tomorrow with accumulation of 2-4 inches. Nice that daylight has come again, although I can’t recall us never losing power before in a similar type storm so THANK YOU CUC!!!!! What a difference it makes not to have to sit and wait in the dark and the heat.

In case I do not post again, thanks to the other correspondents who kept us and everyone else informed. We need to recruit a couple of North Siders and East Enders as well.

Morning again,

Conditions are still generally the same in Grand Cayman.

Grand Cayman - Winds now Westerly at 35 MPH and higher in Gusts. Last Hour maximum gust 47 MPH. Rain began in last 30 minutes. Temperature 78 degrees. Pressure 992.2 and rising trend. Cloud Base 900 feet AMSL.

Cayman Brac (Sister Islands) – Winds remain SE at 25 gusting to 35. Last hour maximum 35 MPH. Raining 0.3 inches over past hour. Temperature 54.3 degrees. Pressure 995 and rising. Cloud Base 670 feet AMSL.

Gustav is now Category 2 and a definitive eye wall is starting to emerge which shows continuing intensification. Going for a nap again so I will catch you all at sunrise with an update.

Regards,

Chris

Hi again,

Well Gustav made it to Cat 2 as I thought it would, just as it was crossing the Cayman Area. This is based on NOAA 2:15 update:

DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT

GUSTAV CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN AND NOW HAS MAXIMUM WINDS NEAR 100

MPH...155 KM/HR WITH HIGHER GUSTS.  THIS MAKES GUSTAV A CATEGORY TWO

HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.

Nothing more to report so far here in Grand Cayman, conditions the same.

Regards,

Chris

Had a bit of a snooze and I awake to find power still going and the winds not quite as strong. There are lots of gusts but not the constant racket we had earlier. Sorry to see that it has strengthened to a Cat 2 for the areas beyond Cayman. No sign of the harbour water here breaching the wall. I have limited visibility at my location at Governor’s Harbour in Grand Cayman between shutters and the darkness but I can look  across our patio. It is raining somewhat and blowing but otherwise seems ok out there.

HURRICANE GUSTAV TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008
210 AM EDT SAT AUG 30 2008


DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT
GUSTAV CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN AND NOW HAS MAXIMUM WINDS NEAR 100
MPH...155 KM/HR WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES GUSTAV A CATEGORY TWO
HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.

$$
FORECASTER BLAKE/AVILA