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The Caribbean Hurricane PageUpdates from the Islands- - St.Kitts, Nevis & Montserrat - - |
| - Oh What a Season - Oh What a Show |
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With apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber … As far as I - on Nevis - am concerned it has been a HORRIBLE hurricane season! Statisticians may prove otherwise but … It seemed to start with Dennis. Dennis should have been a tropical wave but it developed into a Tropical depression RIGHT OVER OUR HOUSE and dumped 10 inches of water on us. It moved North and became a Hurricane. Then Floyd said "hello, would you like some rain?" and dumped another 10 inches on us. I had forgotten to close our Landrover sun roof and door! What a mistake to make! We were flooded downstairs as well. I thought that Jose was not too bad until the rain that it trailed got dumped on us! Lenny was just AWFUL. I know that we were lucky and we didn’t get the damage of St. Martin and St. Croix but we were ‘under the cosh’ for three long days. It wasn’t just the damage. In all honesty we only lost a few shingles and a few fruit trees and had minimal water damage so I shouldn’t complain but my wife and I suffered awfully from the stress of uncertainty. Last Sunday we had a deluge that seemed to come from NOWHERE! A flash flood washed a couple, in their car, down a ghaut. The girl (only 25 years old!) lost her life and the boy is in hospital. I don’t know if I’ll be reporting next year but I’m praying that the 2000 Season will be less severe for everybody. Goodbye for now Prof. Peter ‘Tropically Depressed’ Crane (Nevis) |
| - Row, row, row your boat … |
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Today we went shopping in Charlestown. The damage, there, is quite awful. The shore-front is extremely badly damaged and you can see damage on most stores, too. One store was still being pumped out by a fire-engine. I heard (but please don't take MY word for it) that some shop workers were evacuated from their shop premises by boat!! The roads that I used were not too bad. A few pot-holes but they had pot-holes BEFORE the Hurricane. Business is, pretty much, back to normal. Regards, Prof. Peter 'Sunny' Crane (Nevis) |
| - Re: [HURR] - Lenny What a Hurrican!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Hi Gert, Hurricane Lenny!!!!!!! Well what a Storm, I dont even know how to begin,or what to say. St.Kitts recieved hurricane watch on Tue, Nov, 16, 1999 citizens of the Island got their emergency surplies and begin to board up their houses and business. Supermarkets were open late as customers crowded them storing up on extra food, batteries, candles,ect.. On Wednesday, 17th November,1999 St.Kitts started to experiance rain and high surge along the sea shore and small gust of winds now and then. Because of the sea surges our coastline was badly damage in some areas more than some, for example Old Road, Sandy Point, Half Way Tree,ect were badly damaged, the roads were so bad vehicles can not pass at all, they would have to take the longer rute around the island on the eastern side. Houses near the beaches were wash up on the island main road, and others were wash away by the high seas. Water also came up into peoples home and wash away their furnitures ect, luckyly no life was loss during that time. One man was noted to have broken his leg when the water came up and wash through his home. A cargo boat known as Lady D was washed ashore and some cars was washed over board. Some of the cargo was saved but the rest was lost at sea and a crew man was reported missing. Other parts of the Island has suffered land slides, soil errosions and all of our country ghauts were running some fuller than others. Some of the Ghauts that run heavyly cause flooding in the town area of Basseterre leaving it all muddy, slippery just plain durty. All and in all the contry can give God thanks that the Hurrican did not hit us but if it did what would of happen to all of us? Anyway God has been good to us but to all my neighbouring islands may god keep you all in this time of grief and loss weather life or property ect you all have my prayers always. Yours truly, Icilma __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com |
| - The Lenny Experience! |
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If anyone is interested I've written an account of our experience during Hurricane Lenny. It is too big (and probably too boring) to put on the notice-board but if anyone is foolish enough to want it I'll mail it to them. WARNING - it really is long and boring! Reading it can damage your health! Regards, Prof. Peter 'Pulitzer Prize' Crane (Nevis) It is now available for download from our website as a text-file: Enjoy, Gert |
| - Lousy Lenny! |
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I've just received some pictures, sent to me, by John Sullivan, (<jsulliva AT freepress.mb.ca>). Thanks, John. They show the devastation at St Croix and St Martin. Houses tossed around as though they were childrens' toys. Boulders in the road. Boats smashed on the shore. People, I know that we have ALL gone through a lot but spare a prayer for the people of St Croix and St Martins, please. Oh, by the way, I saw an Osprey (fish eagle) today. It flew right over our house. Regards, Prof. Peter Crane (Nevis) |
| - Aftermath |
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Hi Folks,
It was gratifying to recieve so many emails from
you all to say thanks. I therefore feel obligated to fill you in on my findings
in the aftermath of the storm.
Friars Bay South has been severely eroded, most
of the sand is gone. As for Frigate Bay South, there is sand in the Timothy
Beach/Monkey Bar area, but the middle portion and western portion has been
unbelievably stripped of every grain of sand!! The beach is devastated. Many
coconut trees simply toppled as the sand was stipped cleanly from between and
under their roots.
As I mentioned in an earlier update Port Zante
is a mess. I could not believe that water could pulverize reinforced concrete
and steel the way it has there!!
Old Road Bay is a mess. Traffic from Old Road
and all towns/villages west of Old Road has to go west through Dieppe Bay to get
to Basseterre, and this will probably be for quite a while, as the road is so
badly damaged, it will take a major project to repair and make reusable. Some
are speculating that it should be abandoned, but I think a new road would take
considerably longer than to repair and restore the road.
Spratt Net got a good lashing from the waves,
but the owners are busy putting it back together and hope to be serving up those
tasty barbecued ribs, chicken and fish very soon.
Of major concern is the coastal damage in
Half-Way-Tree/New Guinea areas. In the western portion of Half Way Tree, the sea
ripped through homes on the shore side, plunged accross the main road, flattened
the cane fields on the other side, dumping salt water and numerous boulders on
that side. Of course the cane in those fields, apart from being knocked flat,
will die as the soil is now saturated with salt water. It may also take awhile
before it is ready for replanting.
Further on, in the New Guinea area, the cliffs
there were eroded several feet, to the point where the main road is now
threatened as the cliffs now drop off directly from the road!! Some parts of the
road are actually undermined. Some years ago the road just below Brimstone Hill
was rerouted further inland because of similar coastal erosion. That road is now
under serious threat once again!!
It appears that every ghaut in the island ran
and deposited tons of sand and debri in the low lying areas, especially in towns
and villages. New ghauts seemed to have also appeared!! Even in Sandy Point, there are a few areas where severe
soil erosion took place, a repeat of what happened a few weeks ago when Jose
hit. Backhoes were busy today clearing the main road for traffic, which has been
diverted through some back roads in the meantime.
A few areas report being without electricity or water, but
most areas have already been restored. We had good sunshine this morning, but by
mid-day the rain came again.
The airport opened today and several flights operated,
including American Eagle, LIAT and Caledonian (to London).
You should see the ocean today, so calm and serene, it is
unbelievable that just hours ago it was a raging tempest!! Today it looks
inviting once more.
That's it for now folks!
Percival
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| - Report on St Kitts direct from PJ's owner Jude Dolmer |
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Hello Everyone; We're all alive and well in SKB. A tad bit wet. Finally looks like Lenny the" four day hurricane" is thinking about leaving us. Man what a pain in the butt. Hours and hours of wind and rain. Has destroyed every harbour in the Carribbean, from St Croix to Grenada. On the home front our Caribbean shores took a beating. Island Paradise is A OK. Not even a drop of water in PJ's so of course we opened last night for a brief happy hour just to relieve the cabin feaver for a bit. Frier's Bay is gone even the big rock broke up and went out to sea. The Monkey Bar is still there including a nice sand beach surrounding the salt pond. Crickets is flooded but the beach bar still stands. Port Zante is trashed. Bobbie and Kathies boat was out of the water and is fine. The Bay road at the entry at Port Zante is undermined but fixable. The College St ghaut is full of sand, silt etc. and is even with the rest of the roads. The road at Old Road bay is gone and will take alot of work to rebuild. Spratt Net is trashed but, knowing the Spratt Brats they'll have it rebuilt in a month. The North end of the island took the brunt of the storm but is fine. Boats at Dieppe Bay were fine. Unfortunately Pete and Marion anchored their boat at Majors Bay and it ran aground. It's on the beach and looks like there's some damage to the keel. Golden Lemon lost a few trees and a wee bit of damage but not much, Rawlins the same. Not much at all happened at Ottley's. Downtown is OK just a bit mucky. So far no land slides but we fear that could still come as we're still getting wind and rain from the feeder bands of Lenny. Water is back on. That's always the worst part not being able to shower properly. Electric is on in town and should be restored almost every where else by the end of today. Gotta go and get some things done just thought you'd all be wondering how we made out. Love to ALL Jude |
| - Gone? |
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We awoke this morning to less windy conditions
and the news that Lenny has moved, though slowly, further out into the Atlantic.
It is still a tropical storm, but forecast to weaken further. Businesses have
opened, the airport is open and everyone is trying to get things back to normal.
The heavy equipment operators are out in full force, moving tons of sand and
debri. I understand that Nevis Port also got a serious hit. There are also
reports that Old Road was also very badly damaged - I will go into that area
later to check it out and let you all know.
The sun is out people. Time to shine
again!!
Percival
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| - Saturday - 2am |
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Relentless Lenny is still making its presence
felt in St.Kitts-Nevis and the Leewards. It has virtually made a semi-circle
around St.Kitts-Nevis and its center is approx 35 miles east of Antigua at this
time. Though downgraded to a tropical storm, with max. sustained winds of 60mph,
with higher gusts, we are still experiencing winds which picked up once again
during the evening and through the night. Good news is that we had no rain all
yesterday (except for an occasional drizzle) and so far no rain during the
night. Winds however are blowing at about 30-40mph consistently with gusts in
the region of about 50mph. Just a nuisance at this point - can't complain for
tropical breeze!!!
Seems the eye may have passed over or very near
to Antigua during the night. Prior to that I heard reports of severe flooding in
Antigua with landslides reported in some areas. Needless to say no airtraffic
has been in our area since Wednesday!! I just heard a bulletin on ZIZ radio
(which is now back on) that RLB Int'l Airport (St.Kitts) will open in the
morning from 6am. However I am not so sure what traffic they will be opened to
receive because they certainly will not get any traffic from Antigua or the
islands south and I doubt if any traffic will come from P.Rico or any where for
that matter, but we will wait and see.
Many of the businesses are sending out notices
that they will be opening in the morning. I think that was based on yesterdays
calmer weather, but with the return of winds that may change, will not want to
have too many people out in such windy consitions - will wait and
see.
That's it for now, we just have to wait for
Relentless lenny to go away - it is now heading east in the open Atlantic, which
for me personally is a concern. Why, because that, to me, gives it a chance to
get into open warm ocean (where it should have started in the first place) which
could cause it to strengthen once again, and God forbid, turn around and take a
second shot - but let's hope it just continues to weaken and die -
SOON!
Percival
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| - Thank You, Scotty! |
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At last! At 8pm the hurricane warning was discontinued for St Kitts/Nevis. Hooray! Our dogs have had enough. Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow and we will say "Lenny, who dat?". Regards, Prof. Peter 'What's the Problem' Crane (Nevis) |
| - Beam Me Up, Scotty! |
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The storm started on Wednesday and it is now Friday and it seems to be getting worse. As far as I can tell the centre is closer now to us than it has ever been. Reports are that:- Homes have been destroyed. The dredging barge at the new port has been washed up on to the beach. The barge used by Delta (a local refinery) has been washed up on to the beach. The Four Seasons Resort has been EXTENSIVELY damaged and one report that I have heard is that it will take months before it can be re-opened. Apparently, there are about 130 guests there and they are bearing up very well to the necessary restrictions. Other hotels have been badly damaged. The shore-line is VERY badly hit. Yachts have been destroyed. As far as I am concerned this is a REALLY nasty hurricane because of the length of time it is taking to move away. Although we were fairly well prepared our resources are being whittled away, the roof is losing shingles one by one, etc. OUR DOGS ARE STRESSED OUT! Regards, Prof. Peter 'Crying into My Beer' Crane (Nevis) |
| - Lenny update from Nevis via USA |
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Well, after several
tries I got through by telephone to one of neighbors at Jones estate. The
other neighbor is not answering phone so it may be out. Today their phone
went out about 10AM and were surprised when the phone rang and it was me.They
told me:
The barometric pressure is really
dropping. I gave them to most recent coordinates and they then
understood. The center of the storm appears to just off StKitts(Atlantic
side).
Today they have had more wind and alot
less rain. They reported that Oualie has guests and are running on
generator. The major problem there is that the toilets won't flush.
Sheila's and The Inn at Cades Bay are OK but the restaurant has sand in
it. The airport tends to be in the lee of the storm so the seas are calmer
on that side(this may include Nesbit Plantain). Four Seasons has taken
quite a hit but their pier is still standing even though it is now in the
sea.
I hope this answers some questions that
people with friends and families at some of Nevis'
hotels/inns.
We are going away this weekend on
business so I doubt that I will be sending any more information until Monday(if
it's still appropriate).
Lynne Hubbard
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Older reports can be found on another page.
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