Hurricane Paloma Reports - Caymans - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 10:05 AM

This thread is for reports of the effects of Hurricane Paloma on the Cayman Islands. Please post anything reliable you can find.

EARLY INDICATIONS are that GRAND CAYMAN may have fared pretty well:
According to Radio Cayman there are some power lines down in certain areas of GC. Residents being urged to stay off the roads.

LITTLE CAYMAN and CAYMAN BRAC not as lucky as GC:
Cat 4 Paloma now hammering Little Cayman and Cayman Brac: Roofs off, sea water washing through homes, people in need of rescue.

sue miller · 11-08-2008, 10:07 AM

Fron Storm caribe.............Hi All, I just got word from the Brac that they are still having winds in excess of 100+ MPH and there is a lot of damage. The Aston Rutty Center roof did not blow off it was the Seaman’s building. I was told there is not a leaf on a try, so it sound like they had our “Ivan”. Oh…here is more text from Little Cayman….Power poles down, lines, trees, some home damage, most major resorts are okay as far as they can tell however no known fatalities. I am getting calls from Cayman Brac and too much information to type, major damage to homes, seas are washing through homes on the west and south side with sea water right through.
So much info is coming in to me by phone and they are still in high winds and sounding so scared, Winds were recorded at 6:00 am 155 MPH on Cayman Brac but I am sure we will here even more later. I can’t keep up with the calls folks, I can only say for now they are going to need help. British warship on standby south of Cayman Brac awaiting subsiding conditions to proceed in. I got to get to work and get my airplanes back to Grand Cayman as we too will be providing maximum assistance to the sister islands and I need to get my flight crew regrouped.

I will post later after what I suspect will be a very busy day.
Best regards to all and my best wishes to everyone in Brac and Little Cayman.
Chris

Char · 11-08-2008, 10:10 AM

Sounds realy bad! I hope the people are safe.

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 10:11 AM

Apparently, GC did record a wind gust of 108 mph, but the littler islands were having 100+ sustained for some period

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 10:15 AM

155 MPH!!! That thing wants to be a Cat 5 - HOLY COW!

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 10:16 AM

A British warship is standing by to bring aid!
Hooray for the Royal Navy!!!

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 11:27 AM

16" of rain so far ... 8" of that in a single hour!

(This was on one of the smaller islands - either Little Cayman or Cayman Brac)

canarymoon · 11-08-2008, 11:46 AM

From Honerable Charles Clifford, Cayman Island Tourism:

Grand Cayman's hotels are mostly undamaged, and most will begin checking in guests later this afternoon.

The airport is undamaged, and should re-open later today, after the planes fly back for S FL, where they were sent for safe keeping.

They are continuing to 'monitor' the situation in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where the news is not nearly so good at all.

I
It sounds to me like relief is going to be needed on the little islands.

sue miller · 11-08-2008, 12:50 PM

From Storm Caribe...............

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 11:36:18 -0400 - Big damage!
Good morning!

Back on Wednesday, I noted that this system would be a Cat 3 and possibly a Cat 4 due to the very favorable elements in the surrounding environments. Now, category 4 hurricane Paloma has given Grand Cayman a close call but has caused major damage to Cayman Brac and and Little Cayman. See reports from Captain Chris Taggert on the Cayman Island reports to the right on this page. Grand Cayman itself dodged a major bullet and this little jog to the ENE put the smaller islands directly in the path of the monster. The computer models grossly underestimated the potential intensity of this system yesterday and that may have led to a bit of complacency as these islands are well built to withstand hurricanes, especially after hurricane Ivan made his unwanted appearance in 2004. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported and storm surge is not a major factor in the damage arena due to the deep waters surrounding the Caymans. Unfortunately, that will not be the case when it hits southern Cuba with the expected storm surge to be between 18-23 feet!!

Southern Jamaica has been pounded by rough seas and high winds from Paloma's passing as well and I'm sure there will be damage on the western and southern coasts although nothing like Caymans and soon, Cuba will receive.

Currently, pressure is 943 mb tying it for the second strongest hurricane in the Atlantic in November with the record held by "wrong-way" Lenny in 1999. Weakening is starting to take place as an eyewall replacement cycle is noted on satellite imagery and the weakening trend is slowly expected to continue due to expected increasing wind shear but the SST's are still very warm on it's way to Cuba so expect at least a Cat 3 at landfall. Thereafter, the mountainous terrain of Cuba, along with the shear, should take it's toll on Paloma allowing it to survive as a TS after reemerging from the coast. Then, so they say, it's supposed to fall apart as it wanders the Bahama's. Did anyone see that westerly turn at the end of the 5 day cone? Remember, 3-5 day forecasts are subject to large error possibilities. We'll see what qualities hurricane Paloma retains after it's run in the mountains.

Be safe!!

Dave

smitty · 11-08-2008, 02:02 PM

wow!!! thank god for the royal navy of which we are rightly proud.