Thread: Gustav Reports - Cayman Islands

The Caymans are under a Hurricane Watch today, for Tropical Storm Gustav. He is expected to restrengthen to hurricane statue before reaching the Cayman Islands on Friday morning.

The current projections take the storm just skirting to the north of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Even a small jog at this point could make a big difference, however.

- Getting ready

• From: xxxxx <xxxxx at gmail.com>
• Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:44:20 -0500

Good morning everyone,

The people of the Cayman Islands are hard at work preparing for the storm. Last night while walking my dog all I could hear were saws cutting panels to make shutters! I could also see people in the dark picking stuff up and getting their homes ready. On the drive to work this morning I could see that many homes have their shutters up and are ready.

Yesterday afternoon I went to fill up gas and waited under 10 minutes. By the time I left, the wait was at least double that. The guy before me had a large SUV and it cost him 125$CI (152$US) to fill up ... ouch!

A mix of sun & dark clouds this morning in Grand Cayman ... nothing great!

Looks like the Caynabers are prepared and preparing. Found this on another board, and it's from someone on GC:

just a quick situation report on the present conditions on Grand Cayman.
Its a fine sunny day, no wind, going to be another of those hot hot days. Its a big relief to see that Gustav is downgraded a bit, but everybody is very alert for this one!

My general impression is that people are very well prepared, have stocked up, have plans in place and are staying calm. Not much panic buying yesterday, tellers told me people cleaned them out the day before yesterday, but that they still had lots of stock. Drove by the airport last night, it was empty of people. Bars doing good business. Liquor stores expecting to take a massive hit today from hurricane party hearty types.
People going to work today as usual, although lots of offices are closed today

Thanks for this, CM!

Do please continue to keep us updated!

Thanks for the info.

If anyone hears - or finds - anything, please post!

Ken has posted an article under Jamaica that says there are now 59 dead as a result of Gustav.

Been monitoring the Cayman Islands all morning...Winds are picking up - skies are getting dark.

There is a great link that shows a web cam and has a local weather link
CaymanChillin.com

Compliments of your local weather geek...(I'm even tracking the data and graphs of the storms in the Atlantic basin...)

What a great link - Thanks, marcitony!

Here's a clickable version: CaymanChillin.com - Web Cams

Excerpt from an AP Article:

Well-heeled tourists fled Cayman hotels by air, while Katrina victims in Mississippi still living in emergency cottages and trailers were told to evacuate beginning this weekend.

Hotels on the Cayman Islands asked guests to leave, then after the airport closed prepared to shelter those who remained. Chris Smith, of Frederick, Maryland, said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests' names and room numbers so that "if something happens they can quickly identify us."

"That was a little bit sobering," he said, standing outside the hotel with his luggage.

This is not sounding too good.
The last time we were scheduled to cruise to Grand Cayman a few years ago we missed the port because of dammage. I wonder if we will make it there the week after next.

One thing about cruising this time of year... you never know where you will end up.