posted on Aug, 30 2008 @ 08:09 PM
Hey all,
I'd talked with SD about Jamaica, and Jamaican influences, and I'm naturally paranoid and thus not-so-forthcoming, so it was easy to
misunderstand..... we live on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands, and just had Gustav here.
part of my email [reprinted with permission] to SD:
We're well in the clear now, SD. Thanks much for watching out for us. Based upon BP measurements and monitoring the COC on my Bride's Blackberry,
combined with HH recon data, I believe that we had a Cat 2 that morphed into a Cat 3 not far from us. If those were 85 mph winds, then I'm your
auntie haha! Yeah, good deductive reasoning, that.
We just got power restored an hour ago. Many power poles down -- more than 40, and that's a lot for an island which sports 1500 people. Power lines
down, roofs damaged. Thankfully, no loss of life. The "Lord's Day" is going to be filled with the merry whine of chainsaws tomorrow. I saw this
morning two coconut trees of ours snapped in half, looking like they were cut down by a chainsaw. That was some fiercesome wind. Still rainy, squally,
lightning here. Really concerned now for Cuba, and the U.S. in Gustav's path. I think the windshear might well chop ol' Gus down quite a bit, and
looking at the steering currents and the ULL to the west, I kinda think it'll take a turn toward Mobile or eastward. We'll see.
Well, we're pooped. It's been a pretty much sleepless period. We had battery-powered fans, and all our systems worked well. Our house was not
damaged at all. Cats are petulant; they feel I'm being draconian in keeping them inside tonight.
__________________
As I said, really concerned for Cuba, and GOM residents beyond. Hopefully windshear can chop Gustav a bit. Perhaps we can enlist the skills of a
real meteorologist -- OZ -- to talk about this storm. Me, I'm just a weather geek.
Cayman Islands -- no reported loss of life. Everything else is stuff. We can make new stuff.
Everybody please be safe, and if anyone wants to talk about hurricane preps or systems, post here or U2U me if you're shy. I'll try to keep an eye
on this thread in case I can help out. Right now, going to get some long-overdue sleep.
Can I get an "Amen" for windshear? I hope that didn't offend anyone. I don't mind at all telling you all that northward of us are in our
prayers. I don't believe that prayer hurts a bit.