Wmcmanus
President treasurer secretary and sole member of the Cayman Islands Head-Fi Club.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2002
- Posts
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One of the drawbacks of living in the Caribbean (besides the high cost of living and no decent roads to drive fast on) is hurricane season! The Cayman Islands got clobbered hard (Cat 5) by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. We're talking $5 billion of damage in Grand Cayman, an Island with only 50,000 residents (or $100,000 per person: man woman and child). Of course a lot of that was corporate and governmental, but suffice it to say, it was a pretty nasty scene and a lot of people literally lost everything they had ever worked for. My property damage was comparatively slight and well insured, but that didn't help much when living in the midst of 6+ months of utter despair during the aftermath.
Hurricane Gustov, which has already taken 22 lives, is now heading our way, although at the moment the National Hurricane Center (US) is predicting about a 10% chance of hurricane force winds (presumably somewhere in the Cat 1-3 range at this point) and a 50-60% chance of tropical storm force winds. It's hard saying what will happen in the next 24-48 hours, but everyone is apparently scrambling to make preparations. Gustov is expected to reach Grand Cayman and our two sister islands at around 2pm on Friday local time.
I'm in Idaho at the moment, so I'm safe. I don't know about my peeps and my stuff though. Time will tell... but to think, it's still August!
...
BTW (side topic), I've got to laugh when I see the "official" descriptions (from the US Government) about the various categories of hurricanes: Hurricane Categories Information
When Ivan hit Grand Cayman, the entire Eastern and Southern shores were obliterated. It was registered initially as a Cat 5 hurricane, but then reregistered several months later as a Cat 4 because the maximum recorded sustained winds were 154 mph (instead of 155 mph) up until the point that the building that the recording equipment was housed in blew away!
I've got some friends who (back then) owned a breathtaking two-story house on the sea at Pedro's Bluff, which is the highest point on the Island, 40 feet above sea level. The bluff drops 40' straight down to sea level. Many local kids jump off, swim around, and get picked up their friends in boats. Anyway, my friends' former house sits atop the bluff about 100 yards back. They had sea water in their second floor bedrooms (some 55 above sea level)! Everything in their first floor, including all of their furniture, their fridge, etc., was washed away. Yet, according to the "official" sources, at Cat 4 hurricane gives storm surges of 13-18 feet above normal (and normal there would be about 6 feet). Hmmm... something isn't adding up in that official data.
Hurricane Gustov, which has already taken 22 lives, is now heading our way, although at the moment the National Hurricane Center (US) is predicting about a 10% chance of hurricane force winds (presumably somewhere in the Cat 1-3 range at this point) and a 50-60% chance of tropical storm force winds. It's hard saying what will happen in the next 24-48 hours, but everyone is apparently scrambling to make preparations. Gustov is expected to reach Grand Cayman and our two sister islands at around 2pm on Friday local time.
I'm in Idaho at the moment, so I'm safe. I don't know about my peeps and my stuff though. Time will tell... but to think, it's still August!
...
BTW (side topic), I've got to laugh when I see the "official" descriptions (from the US Government) about the various categories of hurricanes: Hurricane Categories Information
When Ivan hit Grand Cayman, the entire Eastern and Southern shores were obliterated. It was registered initially as a Cat 5 hurricane, but then reregistered several months later as a Cat 4 because the maximum recorded sustained winds were 154 mph (instead of 155 mph) up until the point that the building that the recording equipment was housed in blew away!
I've got some friends who (back then) owned a breathtaking two-story house on the sea at Pedro's Bluff, which is the highest point on the Island, 40 feet above sea level. The bluff drops 40' straight down to sea level. Many local kids jump off, swim around, and get picked up their friends in boats. Anyway, my friends' former house sits atop the bluff about 100 yards back. They had sea water in their second floor bedrooms (some 55 above sea level)! Everything in their first floor, including all of their furniture, their fridge, etc., was washed away. Yet, according to the "official" sources, at Cat 4 hurricane gives storm surges of 13-18 feet above normal (and normal there would be about 6 feet). Hmmm... something isn't adding up in that official data.
