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 Thousands flee 145mph winds as hurricane hits Jamaica |
 2007-08-20 07:39:48
 Article by JACQUI GODDARD
 Source: Scotsman.com
 Posted by Ninja T. Penguin
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| Thousands flee 145mph winds as hurricane hits Jamaica |
JAMAICANS are today assessing the damage after a night of terror as Hurricane Dean swept over them.
Hundreds of people headed for government shelters but most defied pleas to abandon their homes as the 17-mile wide "eye-wall" - the location of the most damaging winds and intense rainfall - arrived just south of the island.
The hurricane claimed at least eight lives as it barrelled across the Caribbean. It was predicted to intensify to a possible Category 5 storm - the most extreme level - as it moves on today past the Cayman Islands and towards Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
But as the outer bands of the 145mph storm began pummelling Jamaica, only 47 of the island's 1,000 shelters were occupied. Officials expressed concern that residents in coastal areas were ignoring advice to evacuate.
"The weather experts agree that Dean is an extremely dangerous hurricane," said Jamaica's prime minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, appealing to the island's three million people yesterday to take the threat seriously.
"We are facing a national emergency; the safety and well-being of our people is at stake. For the last time, I'm asking you to leave or you will be in danger."
The storm's fury ripped roofs off buildings in downtown Kingston early today, tearing down power lines and felling trees across the capital.
Data issued by the National Hurricane Centre in Miami last night showed Dean's eye 50 miles south of the city. But hurricane-strength winds were radiating 60 miles from the storm's core and tropical storm-force winds were extending a further 200 miles beyond that.
Earlier, buses were laid on by the government to transport people to schools, churches and sports arenas for shelter. Businesses were closed and a curfew imposed, troops were placed on alert and all police and fire personnel ordered to report for duty.
The national grid was switched down to pre-empt the threat of live power lines collapsing on to communities, and in some coastal areas the mains water supply was shut off to avoid contamination by seawater.
Up to 20 inches of rain was anticipated and tides were expected to swell by as much as ten feet, prompting evacuations of coastal areas and forcing fishermen to pull their boats inshore.
Danny Thompson, from Thornton Heath, Surrey, is among 5,000 British tourists in Jamaica. He was due to fly home tomorrow from a holiday in Montego Bay with his wife Liz and their ten-year-old daughter Vicky. Speaking before the storm hit, the 39-year-old police worker said: "Everyone is saying it will be worse than the result of Hurricane Gilbert which devastated the island. We went to the supermarket yesterday and it was empty."
Ross Shiel, a reporter at the Gleaner, Jamaica's biggest daily newspaper, said people were trying to stay calm. He added: "You can imagine what it would be like in London or Edinburgh if everyone was running for shelter - tempers can get a bit frayed. But people in Jamaica are fairly laid back about it and British tourists I've spoken to are very calm. I interviewed one lady from Fife who said: 'Och, I've been through worse'."
However, fears in Jamaica were greater for the hundreds of thousands of poorer residents who live in shantytown shacks unlikely to withstand the onslaught. Some islanders said they were afraid for their belongings if they moved to shelters.
"Too much crime in Kingston. I'm not leaving my home," Paul Lyn said in Port Royal, east of the capital. Police were involved in a shootout with looters at a shopping centre but no injuries were reported.
From 220 miles above the Earth, Hurricane Dean made for a formidable sight.
"Hoo, man, you can't miss that," exclaimed Dave Williams, an astronaut working aboard the International Space Station.
Colleague Clay Anderson was equally impressed: "Holy smoke," he was heard to say as the pair took a few seconds out of their spacewalk to marvel at the giant swirl of cloud below them.
Last night, the space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the space station ready to head home to Florida tomorrow - one day earlier than scheduled - amid fears that the hurricane could hit NASA's mission control in Houston, Texas, during the middle of the week.
States of emergency were declared in Texas and Louisiana. The US government advised people in the southern part of Texas to prepare for possible evacuations.
After slamming Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, Dean was forecast to head out into the south-western Gulf then on towards the Mexican mainland.
Such a route could spare much of America's offshore oil and gas industry, though at least one production platform and two drilling rigs were evacuated.
Two Royal Navy vessels were today due also to arrive in the Cayman Islands to provide emergency aid. At least 1,500 tourists remained stranded in the British territory.
Flooding and falling trees also hit agriculture on several eastern Caribbean islands.
Martinique's agriculture minister, Louis Daniel Berthome, said many farmers had been ruined . "They don't know which saint to devote themselves to any more," he said.
SO IS CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME?
SCIENTISTS disagree as to what effect our pollution of the environment might be having on the number of hurricanes and their strength each year.
Warm sea temperatures strengthen a storm, feeding its energy. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was just a Category 1 hurricane when it passed over Florida. But when it hit the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it picked up speed until it was a full Category 5, eventually striking near New Orleans as a Category 3.
If man-made pollution is raising sea temperatures, scientists have said there could be a knock-on effect. A study two years ago found that the number of strongest storms had almost doubled in 35 years. But the maximum wind speeds have not gone up, and the duration and frequency of hurricanes has stayed about the same. That study stopped short of blaming global warming for the changes, saying there was still too little known about hurricanes.
The 2005 hurricane season was the busiest on record, far exceeding predictions. But 2006 saw fewer storms than expected in the Atlantic, but high numbers in the Pacific.
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