![[IMG: Luis; Credit: Norm Nelson, Bermuda Biological Station for Research - http://www.bbsr.edu/Weather/]](http://www2.gobeach.com/luis5.gif)
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The Caribbean Hurricane PageUpdates from the Islands- - Tortola & Virgin Gorda (BVI) - - |
| - The sun is back |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- There's still a lot of cloud about, but for the first time in a week large patches of blue sky. Jost Van Dyke, seen from my window, looks bright and sunny, and there's a high rainbow over it, indicating sunshine as well as the occasional shower, which is the current weather forecast here. There's sunshine on the beach at Snuggler's cove. Still a heavy swell breaking just short of the beach. Looks like swimming may be possible, although with some caution, as there is usually undertow in these conditions. Power is back up in about 80% of Tortola, and they hope to be finished everywhere in the BVI over the weekend, except maybe for Jost Van Dyke, which could take a couple of more days. The main coast road from West End to town remains closed due to a rockslide at midday yesterday. The alternative via Windy Hill apparently negotiable. Heavy equipment is working on rockslide, and presumably will finish clearing it today. In general, we are getting back to normal, and even feeling normal now that the sun is back. We have fared pretty well, especially compared to some of our neighbouring islands to the south and east, for whom please spare some thought. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - Back Door Lenny - We have power again! |
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Hello everyone! We finally have power! Yippee!!! Just got home after spending the day helping to put a friends boat back together and am tired, sweaty, dirty and very happy to report (as you already know) that damage in the BVI was really pretty minor. Unfortunately, many other islands were not nearly as lucky. I went out to the the bite at Norman Island this afternoon and am pleased to report that the Willy-T and Billy Bones are both back up and running. When we left, there were at least 30 boats in the bite ... so it looks like all is back to normal again. The sun is shining again and aside from some murky water and some tenuous roads, Tortola is pretty much as it was. As you may recall from an earlier report, I have a flat on my car and quite frankly couldn't be bothered taking the wheel off and hitch hiking into town to have it fixed today. I don't have a spare unfortunately. Anyway, I was hitching home from Nanny Cay and got a lift from Keith Thomas from the Nanny Cay boat yard. He was pretty exhausted. We got as far as Pockwood Pond only to discover that the road had been baracaded. (Yet another mudslide had blocked the road) It was only about 5:30 ... so lots of people were in the same predicament as we were all trying to get home from a hard day at the office, undoing hurricane preparations and generally just cleaning up the place. We tried another route which is really not what one could call a road ... but all we succeeded in doing was breaking the front end part of his four wheel drive and had to back all the way down the hill. We ended up having to go back to Nanny Cay and taking another route over to the North Side and up Zion Hill. Poor Keith. He was remarkably calm through it all. I'm sure that will be an expensive fix. The fellows managed to get my neighbour's truck off my other neighbour's shed roof last night with no further calamities. I saw Uschi last night at Sebastians and they (like many other places) were packed to the rafters with charter refugees. With the help of a generator and many good natured staff ... they managed to feed everyone by candle light. I want to thank everyone who wrote and called prior to, during and after the storm. Your thoughtful messages were very helpful in staving off "the willies", kept me occupied and in several cases added a little humour to the whole situation . I am still trying to answer everyone ... but I would really like to take a desperately needed shower and turn in early. Tomorrow, I will answer those who haven't already heard from me. Kind regards and many thanks to all! Liane All-In-One BVI Vacations Web: Http://bvivacations.com email: bvivacations AT surfbvi.com Phone/Fax: (284) 495-4168 |
| - Recovery Efforts Are In Full Swing-Come on down! We're waiting foryou! |
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Many folks have emailed me with specific questions about people and/or
places. Where ever possible, I have forwarded your email by fax to the local
business/hotel/marina/charter company in question in hopes that they will
respond directly to your requests.
Our phones appear to be working but overloaded due to the tremendous
volume of calls attempting to go through. If you are unable to fax or call
the business you are trying to contact, you may email me and I will forward
your email to the local company/hotel/marina etc. Thus far, every fax I
sent out appeared to go through just fine. I would love to personally chase
down each and every request, but your email would send me scurrying in a
hundred and forty-two different places! However, I am quite happy to keep
forwarding your requests by local fax.
Tortola is rapidly cleaning up the mess and gearing up for tourists and
tourism, our main industry. We don't have to wait for Feds or anybody to
assess our damages, we just clean it up and go forward. You may not even
NOTICE we had a himmacane! (And that is just the way we want it!)
The most embarrassing problem I can see, is that the ocean washed up a
ton of garbage on our shores. However, I heard the garbage trucks out
working in the wee hours of darkness, keeping the dumpsters empty so that as
we clean, we have a place to put it all.
My drive around Tortola yesterday was interspersed with loads of heavy
equipment out clearing roads. Many folks returned to work today and the
stores are full of food and supplies. Power is on and phones never went
down, land or cellular.
Several folks have asked for my phone numbers which I have not given out
since I am already receiving nonstop calls from all over the world, inquiring
about our general state etc.
Post hurricane parties are in full swing with restaurants and bars
doing a brisk business. We are all very grateful and although the U.S.
Thanksgiving is not a BVI holiday, we still have a great deal to be thankful
for! Many places in deference to our numerous American visitors will
celebrate Thanksgiving anyhow. (Hey, any excuse for a party works down here!)
I've tried to report accurately on this web page, though my upcoming book
(HURRICANES & HANGOVERS) is full of fictional mayhem and madness based in the
Caribbean, my adopted home I love dearly.
If you are planning a vacation here in the near future, I have great
advice.
PACK HALF THE CLOTHES AND BRING TWICE THE MONEY!
Recently I picked up a hitchhiker as I could see why he was having
trouble getting rides, he had a truck load of luggage with him! He was a
large fellow, and the first thing I said to him was "the seat does NOT move
back" but he ignored me and nearly broke the seat off the track trying to
make it move against its will. Too funny! He groaned and moaned as my
shocks were taking quite a beating at hauling his great load, as we nearly
bottomed out a few times, even in my jeep!
Though many folks refuse to believe me, everything you need on vacation
here will fit in a carryon bag. Of course, I am one of those wandering lust
nuts who can pack a small backpack in three minutes and then travel happily
for the next three months out of it. I've discovered that most folks, five
minutes after meeting you, could not describe a thing you are wearing,
therefor it is OK to wear clothes more than once before changing into a
radically different outfit. We also have water and Laundromats.
Take care and we hope you have a wonderful vacation here!
From your whacky Lenny-Left-Here-Already correspondent;
aSail4U AT aol.com
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| - Fwd: Blessed again (fwd) |
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>Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 09:27:31 -0400 >From: Mongoose Apartments <mgoosdem AT surfbvi.com> > >Good morning one and all, >Thank you to all of you who e-mailed us to let us know that you were >watching and praying - the prayers worked again! We received torrential >rain on Wednesday evening and morning - some houses here in the village >were flooded, some roads received some major erosion (don't know full >state of damages yet). The waters around the Virgin islands (both US >and BVI) are now a depressing brown - run off from ghuts not properly >maintained (should I say never maintained/cleaned?), roads cut in the >wrong places, and people pushing the "excess" ground from building >projects into the ghuts or onto hillsides so it runs straight into the >sea when there is rain...sigh!!! Why is it that so many of us humans >have, at best, short term vision only? Does no one think that the goose >that lays the golden egg in our part of the world is our pristine water >and reefs???? They are predicting some major ground swells for the next >few days so that will hopefully help clear out the pollution on the >coastal waters...unless, of course, the swells are horrendous and >actually erode the beaches and carry off the sand! >Good news is that we sustained no structural damage at Mongoose >Apartments or at our home on the beach. We have heard nothing about St. >John but trust that no news is good news... >Electricity came on in Cane Garden Bay during the night so that shows >that wind damage to poles and lines was minimal. >Now my prayers are with friends in Nevis, St. Martin and Marteen and >Anguilla. Lenny just sat outside them for 24 hours and is only now >slowly starting to move through them! Keep the prayers up for them, >please. >As I said, other than exhausted from preparing for the storm and now >needing to find reserve strength to face the clean up, we are fine. >Pocketbook was badly hurt as we had to send guests home and others are >not coming due to being unable to reach us, but that is only money, >right??? The important thing is that we are alive and well . >Still very gusty and overcast and unlike what we think of as the >Caribbean, but as long as Lenny does not make a u-turn and the gale out >in the Atlantic doesn't come south, the weather people say we should be >okay until next year :-) >Again, thank you to all who e-mailed, faxed or called - it truly does >lift our spirits to know we have so many good folks out there who care >Lots of love >Sandra and Ellie > >-- >************************************************* > Mongoose Apartments, "Your Home In Our Sun" >P.O. Box 581, Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands > Phn: 284-495-4421 Fax: 284-495-9721 > E-mail: mgoosdem AT surfbvi.com > Web: Text Page: http://www.gobeach.com/bvi/mongoose > Graphics Page: http://www.niacad.ca/mongoose >************************************************* > > |
| - Hurricane warning was lifted Thursday |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- Apparently I should have mentioned that the Hurricane warning for the US and British Virgin Islands was lifted at 5 P.M. Thursday. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - How quickly we forget |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- Its very heavily overcast here, and raining heavily in the channel between my house over Smuggler's Cove and Jost Van Dyke. Not raining on my house though, just in the channel, which is much more like the localized occasional showers we ordinarily get and much less like the steady all- encompassing rain that preceded Lenny. Presumably these are the trailing bands of showers as Lenny finally moves away, although its still not far enough away for comfort, and still causing major trouble for islands to the east of us, as you can read elsewhere on gobeach. I strongly suspect we are going to spend the day complaining about the absence of sunshine, forgetting how grateful we were yesterday that things were not worse. I take that as a sign of returning normalcy; we're back to expecting the sunshine we're used to. At present there is still a bit more breeze than usual, particularly as showers pass, but nothing exceptional. The seas are not running as high as yesterday, but there is still heavy surf in the Cove. No swimming today. However, normal ferry service to St. Thomas is supposed to start running this morning. The airport is scheduled to open at nine this morning. Apparently St Thomas opened their airport yesterday afternoon but had to close it again because of wind gusts. These would normally affect smaller planes and not jetliners, but most of their air service, and all of ours, is provided by smaller planes. Weather forecast out of Puerto Rico is for a sunny day tomorrow, which we would normally expect to spread to us in the course of the day. If it does, we'll we nearly back to normal, although the seas may continue to run higher than normal for a few more days. Power still out in my corner of the island, but there's some expectation it may be back today; it only took 36 hours after Jose, which it not bad. It was 10 days after Marilyn, but that was the most serious storm in my personal experience here. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - Loony Lenny's Latest Position 5am FRIDAY November 19 |
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Well, this is simply amazing! The 5am position arrived in my mail box at
4:40am. I am losing my faith in the meteorologists, they are not only
abreast of the news, but they are now ahead of it!
THE 5 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME POSITION ... 18.1 NORTH ... 62.8 WEST.
MOVEMENT ... NEARLY STATIONARY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ... 100 MPH. MINIMUM
CENTRAL PRESSURE ... 982 MILLIBARS.
I pray for the martians on St Martin!
aSail4U AT aol.com
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| - after midnight in the land of Left of Lenny, Friday a.m. |
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Wow! Power was just restored, winds are breezy with a few gusts.
Tortola is rapidly shaping up to handle the tourists as soon as possible.
Many folks are hoping the stores will be open tomorrow so they can buy
new underwear. (Giggle!)
I was at the marina and resort earlier, most folks were grateful and glad
to be alive. A few whiners were in force wanting to know who was going to
refund their vacation money in view of the hurricane. Honestly, some people
just can't accept reality and mother nature.
If we had packaged it right, "experience the adventure of a lifetime as
you enjoy a hurricane first hand....." Plenty of folks would have probably
willingly signed up!
There really isn't anything sensational to report, no deaths around here
that I know of, yet I see AP reports calling it deadly Lenny. I think a few
people will be "hurt" from their hurricane hangovers, but other than that,
not much damage to report.
The surf is up, bring your board and come on down!
from
aSail4u AT aol.com
Left of Loony Lenny
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| - From Jolly Roger's Generator! |
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This is coming to your LIVE from the JOLLY ROGER in West End, Tortola.
RECUPERATION efforts are under way. First of all, Lou, the owner/manager
of Jolly Roger is running full tilt with generator and staff to feed and
drinks the masses. He has generously donated his generator so that I may
get out to you on my laptop! Twice I have ordered laptop batteries in the
past three months from US companies who cannot ship them to me via US
Priority mail to St John, USVI (which is then redelivered to me by
miraculous means.) How very weird! If I had that battery, I would have been
in touch with you all along.
The storm hit us all right and caused quite a few inconvenient
avalanches, but the road crews were out at the crack of dawn, clearing things
up. By noon, I was able to drive the road from Frenchman's Cay to Nanny Cay,
about eleven miles, give or take a few hitchhikers.
Lefty Lenny howled all night, giving us pause for the cause, but by day
break we were luckily (as usual) mostly unscathed. My boat is floating and
safe as are ALL the hundreds of boats in Nanny Cay marina and boat yard.
If you are planning a vacation down here, we should be ready to go by
Saturday!
FROM your Lucky Lefty Lenny Correspondent in Wet End, Tortola (excuse me!
WEST End Tortola!)
aSail4U AT aol.com
Author of HURRICANES & HANGOVERS (and other tall tales and loose lies
from the coconut telegraph...)
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| - Update |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] --
Following is a message from Nadine Battle which I have taken the liberty of
copying to post here.
Thanks for asking. We are truly blessed. At Noon an all clear was declared
by the Deputy Governor after our Disaster Committee met and assesed that the
BVI has sustained little damage. Because of the heavy rains there were some
rock slides onto some roads that have been cleared both in Tortola and
Virgin Gorda. A couple boats washed up. Electricity is being restored as
lines are checked for any damage.
The airport will be open tomorrow. It is closed because of high gusting.
I have spoken with in part Peter Island, in Virgin Gorda -Little Dix Bay,
Olde Yard Inn, Biras Creek, Mango Bay and all are okay. The same goes for
Tortola, I have spoken with Treasure Isle Hotel, Long Bay Resort, and
Lambert Beach Resort. Jost Van Dyke is okay. Anegada has also been heard
from and is doing well.
Nadine Battle
Executive Director
BVI Hotel & Commerce Association
mgmallin AT surfbvi.com
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| - Looking better |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- I've just talked to Nadine Battle at the BVI Hotel and Commerce Association. She has checked with major resorts on all islands and reports that everyone is OK and there is no structural damage; everyone is cleaning up and hopes to be back to normal soon. The major stores in town are open. She was able to get from West End to Road Town this morning, an reports that while the roads are damaged, crews are out in force; nothing is impassible. Power is back in town and going back section by section. The airport is expected to remain closed today but to open tomorrow. I can report from West End that the winds have fallen off to, if not normal, near normal, and there has been no rain all morning. So it looks like we're getting back on our feet. Our concern is that so long as Lenny doesn't actually go away, he may come back our way after all. I stress that no one has predicted this so far; but Lenny's presence is unsettling, and I for one am not taking down the shutters yet. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - update |
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Lenny is hovering at 17.8N 63.6W about 80 miles SE of Road Town, forecast to move slowly NE towards St Maarten. The BVI is still under a Hurricane Warning, as it may go in any direction. The Road Town area suffered little damage, with roads open, and power lines OK although power is still off at this time. Boats at the Moorings and Village Cay seem fine. Rob Wassell Cay Electronics |
| - It ain't over till its over |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- Its stopped raining here; just an occasional brief light shower in the past couple of hours. The forecast calls for more occasional showers, presumably from the trailing shower bands of Lenny. On the other hand, its a very grey day and there is still a good stiff breeze. The beaches, which were calm here yesterday, are showing a good deal of surf this morning, although on the NW and N beaches I can see, nothing really destructive. You couldn't swim at Long Bay. Possibly you could at Smuggler's Cove, but it would be tough going and the threat of undertow is prohibitive. No boats, big or small, are out on the waters, and probably won't be today. Power is still out, but the local radio station is operating, and apparently things in Road Town are not bad. On the other hand, the main road from West End to Road Town was apparently impassable as of last night, and the Windy Hill road has also taken a beating, although apparently passable but down to one lane in places. Public Works is expected to address these problems today , and is usually good about making roads at least passable in short order. Phones are (self-evidently) working, but if you have a phone system which requires a separate power source, as most modern and complex systems do, you are out of luck unless you have a generator to power it. As individuals, most of us keep at least one primitive phone around to deal with this, but I don't know what the big switchboard operations do. The Deputy Governor has just announced that government offices will probably remain closed today, since there is still an official hurricane warning for our islands. The local weather forecaster says Lenny is out of reach in terms of hurricane force winds, and likely to remain so, but still close enough to maintain strong winds for much of the day. It had stalled overnight and now appears to be drifting very slowly NE, which will keep it at a distance of 50-75 miles for much of the day. So the lookout is that things will not get worse but neither will they get appreciably better for most of the day. No announcement from the power company as yet; they haven't really had time to assess the damage. A lot of businesses in Road Town have generators, so there is apparently some activity. Probably Road Town will have power today, but its not yet clear what efforts will be required for the rest of the island. At least one supermarket has called in its workers for this morning, which suggests an effort at business as usual. In sum; it appears we have come through not badly. No reports of injury in our islands, and so far no serious reports of property damage here, although no doubt there will be boats which were not properly secured and cars the worse for wear. Most of our problems have come from rain, not wind. The only remaining problem is that we haven't exactly come through yet. Lenny is still sitting there, 79 miles south and east of Road Town, capable of doing something else unpredictable. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - We may get lucky |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- I took a walk about 5 pm to the brow of the hill so I could look over Soper's Hole and off to the southwest, and it seemed no worse than my northwest view. The winds were not all that strong, and the rain no more than a light drizzle. And my little stretch of road, at least, was in pretty good shape. A few branches down, but no big rocks loosened by all the rain. It looks like we may be lucky. All the early evening forecasts have said that, although St Croix took a pounding, Tortola/St John/St Thomas are not likely to face anything much worse than we have. There may be some strong gusts overnight, and the seas may run a bit higher (they were scarcely roiled here this afternoon), but our main problems will probably be rockslides and soil slippage. Keep your fingers crossed, as these storms are always unpredictable, but it looks like we may get through with a minimum of damage. At present it continues as it has most of the day; light but steady rain and gusty but not scary winds. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - update |
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We're 50 metres from the Moorings and our feet our still dry. We're still waiting for the big finale - at the moment we have less than TS winds. There is no major surge anyway, and according to the latest 18A advisory 17.6N 64.3 heading NE at 9mph, we are near the nearest point of approach. Cheers Rob Wassell Cay Electronics |
| - bvi (fwd) |
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 18:01:19 -0400 From: rob wassell <caybvi AT candwbvi.net> Subject: bvi [...] at present in Road Town there is an eerie lull, although we expect hurricane strength winds imminently, since the centre is expected to pass within 55 miles to the South East. There is some flooding of the road to Sea Cow's Bay, although Road Town itself seems relatively untouched. Rob Wassell Cay Electronics |
| - So far, so good |
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-- [ From: mgmallin * EMC.Ver #3.1a ] -- My little corner of Tortola overlooking Smuggler's Cove is still looking OK. The wind has picked up to the point where it is uncomfortable to walk into it but not impossible. Judging from the noise level, though, its getting stronger, with more gusts. Its coming from the east, but as I have a lot of hill behind me to the south, I'm probably getting a biased view. Light rain continues; we haven't had a real downpour here since early morning. mgmallin AT surfbvi.com |
| - BVI |
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In my little corner of Tortola, looking northwest over Smuggler's Cove with the hill behind me, things are still pretty quiet at noon on Wednesday. The power went out shortly after 11 am, but clearly the phone lines and internet servers are still working, and those with generators and/or laptops are still communicating. Its raining lightly at the moment, and the winds are gusty but not exceptional; clearly I'm in the lee of the storm for now. The rain has been steady since 4 pm Tuesday, which no doubt accounts for the sundry rockslides I read about elsewhere on the island. The rain has been mostly light but steady here, with occassional downpours accompanied by much thunder and lightning. Current forecast from St Thomas radio is that the centre of Lenny will pass just east of Virgin Gorda, which may spare us the worst part of a direct hit. At the moment St Croix is feeling winds up to 85 mph and expects worse this afternoon. We'll have a better idea of what's in store for us in two or three hours. |
| - 11am Atlantic Standard Time, Latest from Lefty Lenny |
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Lefty Lenny cuts off Wet End, excuse me West End, (sorry my spell
heckler didn't catch that in the last report.) Local phones are still
working, though I have not been able to make an outgoing long distance call.
I just get recordings in various languages telling me I can't get there from
here.
There is a tremendous mud slide or avalanche that has completely blocked
the road at the cliffs (or former cliffs) just east of West End. This
report came in from a driver who was trying to get to Nanny Cay this morning.
Nanny Cay had a sailboat break loose from the outside of A-dock. It was
the last one to arrive on the dock, the passengers abandoned it, a bareboat
crew arrived then hastily tied it up and departed. It broke loose but was
rescued somewhat.
Our front yard is a nice muddy lake. The wind is howling and the coconut
trees are doing aerobics. My canvas jeep roof is most unhappy and
threatening to part company with the base. There are so many rusty holes in
the floorboards, that the thing is self-draining.
A local radio station from St Thomas is broadcasting by cellular phone
from the talk show host's home. He says St Croix "is really feeling it".
The USVI is gearing up to cadge all the Federal funds they can out of
this. They already flew in disaster coordinators before the storm! I find
this ludicrous!
In the BVI, we are left to our own devices, after the storm, to rebuild
our community. Sounds like we are going to need to press all the heavy
equipment into operation to rearrange the island.
The talk show hosts just announced that the President has already
declared the U.S. Virgin Islands a disaster area. After the storm they will
be sitting around waiting to prove all their damages for money, we on the
other hand will rush to get back in business as soon as possible. Don't be
surprised if our recovery efforts are far speedier than theirs.
Santa Claus emailed me a note, asking if wanted to come to the North
Pole for a while and be elf-employed. I wrote him that it was beginning to
sound real attractive.
From Wet End, TOrtola
ASail4U AT aol.com
Need some comedy in your life?
Reserve your copy of HURRICANES & HANGOVERS (and other tall tales and
loose lied from the coconut telegraph...)
|
| - The operation was a success! |
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Well the operation was a success ... unfortunately, the patient died! The backhoe arrived along with about a dozen guys to pull the truck out of the hole. They tied a rope to the front of the truck (somewhere underneath) and tied the other end to the bucket and just muscled the thing out of there. I was amazed at how quickly and seemingly easily they maaged to get it out! There was only very minor damage as it appears that they somehow managed to damage the break line. Our driveway is a fairly steep grade and the truck got to the top with ease. Unforunately, without breaks ... it continued to move heading down the other side of the hill. All we could hear was breaking trees and then a horrible loud thud and crunching noise. We all run up and over the hill to find the driver safe and sound (thankfully) as he managed to bail out of the truck before it went over the embankment and landed on the next door neighbour's power shed. It is sitting on a 90 degree angle with the front bumper resting nicely on the roof of the shed. It seems they untied the truck from the backhoe a little prematurely. Too bad. It was a nice truck and the shed was brand new. Our power just dipped ... which is usually a sign that the power will be going off soon. Will tell the rest of this saga after the storm. Kind regards, Liane |
| - Lefty Lenny is on the Loose and Packing a Punch! |
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HURRICANE LENNY INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NO. 16B FOR 9 AM AST WED NOV 17 LENNY BECOMES A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR/SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE ... THE FIFTH OF THE SEASON ... NEARING THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN ISLANDS ... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE U.S. AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS. A HURRICANE WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR DUTCH ST. MAARTEN ... FRENCH ST. MARTIN ... ST. BARTHELEMEY ... ANGUILLA ... SABA ... ST. EUSTATIUS ... ST. KITTS ... NEVIS ... MONTSERRAT ... ANTIGUA ... AND BARBUDA. AT 9 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME ... 1300Z ... THE CENTER OF HURRICANE LENNY WAS NEAR LATITUDE 16.9 NORTH ... LONGITUDE 65.4 WEST OR ABOUT 115 MILES ... 185 KILOMETERS ... SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO. THIS IS ALSO ABOUT 70 MILES ... 110 KILOMETERS ... SOUTHWEST OF ST. CROIX. LENNY IS MOVING TOWARD THE EAST-NORTHEAST NEAR 13 MPH ... 21 KILOMETERS PER HOUR A GRADUAL TURN TO THE NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED TODAY. ON THIS TRACK ... THE CORE OF POWERFUL HURRICANE LENNY WILL BE CROSSING THE WARNING AREA LATER TODAY. WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO WORSEN OVER THE WARNING AREA THIS MORNING. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 135 MPH ... 215 KILOMETERS PER HOUR WITH HIGHER GUSTS ESPECIALLY OVER UNPROTECTED SOUTH AND WEST FACING HARBORS. LENNY HAS BECOME A DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR/SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE ... THE FIFTH OF THE, 1999 SEASON. STRONGER WINDS COULD BE EXPERIENCED IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS. SOME FURTHER STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE TODAY. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES ... 95 KILOMETERS ... FROM THE CENTER ... AND TROPICAL-STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175 MILES ... 280 KILOMETERS. ST. CROIX HAS BEEN EXPERIENCING SUSTAINED TROPICAL-STORM FORCE WINDS DURING THE PAST HOUR WITH A RECENT PEAK GUST OF 62 MPH ... 100 KPH AND SABA REPORTED A WIND GUST 48 MPH ... 77 KPH. THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT WAS 948 MILLIBARS ... 27.99 INCHES. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 10 TO 15 INCHES ... WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE HURRICANE. THESE RAINS CAN PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES. SAN JUAN DOPPLER RADAR SHOWS HEAVY RAINS CONTINUING TO SPREAD OVER PORTIONS OF PUERTO RICO ... THE VIRGIN ISLANDS ... AND THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE WARNING AREA. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 5 TO 8 FORT ABOVE NORMAL ... ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES ... IS EXPECTED NEAR THE CENTER IN THE WARNED AREA. REPEATING THE 9 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME POSITION ... 16.9 NORTH ... 65.4 WEST. MOVEMENT TOWARD ... EAST-NORTHEAST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ... 135 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE ... 948 MILLIBARS. THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 11 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME. |
| - Back Door Lenny #8 - Holly Cow! |
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Hi folks! I finally caught about three hours of sleep only to wake up and find my front yard (and a neighbour's truck) gone! The 20' high retaining wall gave way due to water erosion. So far, all that is left of the yard is about 5 feet in front of the porch ... and the storm hasn't arrived yet! This could prove to be rather interesting. I moved my car, which was about 15' away from being swallowed up in the hole where the yard used to be, and in the process got a flat tire when I drove over some rather jagged rocks which had fallen down the hill and onto our dirt road. I then ran and got my landlord. Everyone is running around madly trying to find a backhoe to come and pull the truck out before it is buried by a further landslide which is certain to take place. Frankly, I don't see how they will be able to do it without losing the backhoe as well. Cable T.V. is out, so we are reduced to using the internet. The last co-ordinates I can find are the 6:00 ones ... so not very up to date right now. Once the power goes ... that's it as my battery powered radio has apparently decided to kick the bucket. That's convenient! Its raining on and off, visibility is pretty poor, we are getting occassional wind gusts ... but not much wind to speak of and the water in front of Bomba's Shack is churned up into a nice muddy colour. I'm tickled pink that we still have power. Don't know when they will turn it off but I'm hoping we will still have a few hours. Thanks again to all for the many e:mails which continue to pour in. Its really nice to hear from folks as it keeps me busy trying to answer! I'm going back on the internet now to see what news I can discover. Kind regards, Liane |
| - 7:45am Atlantic Standard Time |
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The thunder and lightning has subsided. Front yard is over a foot deep
in water, harbor looks like one big mud slide. Incredibly, a 300' freighter
has arrived in Wet End heavily loaded with sand. Earlier I saw a sailboat
mast moving erratically and then it stopped suddenly and began rocking back
and fourth. I do not know if it was a manned boat or one that got loose and
crashed into something. I could just see the mast movement over the roofs of
the little shopping area at Pusser's on Frenchmans Cay.
We are enjoy a very cool breeze interspersed with chilling rain. The
neighbors are hammering and pounding, rushing to get their shutters up. I
hear a dull roar arriving, have no idea what it is.
from your Loony Lefty Lenny correspondent in Tortola
asail4u AT aol.com
|
| - From Tortola |
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West End, Tortola, 5:45am.
Thunder, lightning and a great deal of wind, maybe 50 knots. Lefty Lenny
has arrived before the sun and he is very noisy and wet. I am unplugging
everything, the lightning is endless!
from your corespondent
aSail4U AT aol.com
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| - Lenny at 4:00 AM |
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Sh--! My car is buried under a major rock/mud slide. There are a couple of 2-foot diameter rocks on the hood and the driver's door window has been smashed and a large century plant is sitting in the driver's seat. I'm obviously gonna need some help when this is over. 2-foot OD rocks are a little more than I can handle and swinging a mallet to break up a rock resting on the hood of my CRV is not my idea of fun. Fortunately my wife's vehicle survived and I tucked it in a hopefully safe place when I got back from my South shore trip. Winds are higher there, maybe 20-30 knot gusts, but the seas are relatively calm. Our well-managed Office of Disaster Preparedness has been advising all residents near the water on the South shore to evacuate and we hear by phone from Malcolm, our California reporter, that Fort Recovery has taken that advice. Thanks Malcolm, for keeping us up to date on what's happening here. Looks like Lenny will pass South of us so our main concern now is for our son Rick, adopted daughter Sharon, and grandson Kiko on St. Maarten. David |
| - Back Door Lenny #7 |
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Absolutely bloody amazing! Lenny's sustained winds are now 120 MPH! I am pretty much gob smacked by all these rapid changes. Its nearly impossible to keep up with this boy! Lenny is now making a rapid turn to the north ... which is very bad news for us in the USVI and BVI but was predicted to happen all day long. Current location: 16.5N 66.2W Max. sustained winds 120MPH Gusting to 140MPH Travelling ENE at 14 MPH Pressure at 958mb Once again, Road Town, Tortola is at 18.3N and 64.3W (give or take) Man-oh-man! ... No way I can go to bed now. I think I will just start drinking ... heavily! Its still dead calm outside. Mild and very pleasant winds, slight drizzle, heavy cloud cover and the waves are just about normal. All in all, a very nice evening ... considering! Shoot, I guess that won't last much longer! If there are any other imbeciles awake at this hour who are actually reading this stuff ... get in touch. Maybe we can play computer majong or perhaps a challenging game of "go fish". There's no doubt I'm up for the rest of the night! Kind regards, Liane |
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