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Hurricane Emily Lashes Grenada, Churns Westward In Caribbean
Miami (AFP) July 14, 2005 Hurricane Emily, the Atlantic's second big storm of the season, picked up strength and threatened more Caribbean islands Friday, days after its predecessor Dennis carved a trail of death and destruction across the same region. Emily's winds increased to 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour as it headed toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm was upgraded to a Category Four hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson intensity scale. Its strength could fluctuate in the next 24 hours, the center said. Jamaica was under a hurricane warning -- meaning hurricane conditions can be expected within 24 hours -- and the Cayman Islands under a hurricane watch. Emily was also expected to produce heavy rain that could trigged flash floods and mudslides in the Netherlands Antilles and Hispaniola, the large island which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the center warned. In Grenada, where 30,000 people -- one-third of the permanent population -- remain homeless 10 months after Hurricane Ivan, there were widespread fears about the new storm. There were no reports of fatalities in Grenada, but authorities said winds on Thursday peeled off the roofs of homes and damaged others. In Trinidad's tiny sister island of Tobago, nearly half the population lost electricity, some homes were damaged and mudslides were reported. At 0900 GMT, the storm's center was about 620 kilometers (385 miles) south-southeast of Port-Au-Prince, and about 930 kilometers (580 miles) east-southeast of Kingston. It was moving west-northwest at near 32 kilometers (20 miles) per hour, the US hurricane center said. The governments of the Dominican Republic issued a tropical storm warning from Punta Salinas westward to the Haitian border. Warnings were also issued for Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba and Venezuela's northern coast. The government of Haiti issued a tropical storm warning from the border with the Dominican Republic to the capital Port-au-Prince. In Haiti, civil protection agency spokesman Jeffe Delorges said that after Dennis roared past on July 7, a total of 23 bodies were found in the southwestern town of Grand-Goave. Most were killed when a bridge collapsed. Another 10 were killed in the Grande-Anse region, also in the southwest, along with five in the southeast and two in the southern city of Cayes. The Haitian agency estimates that about 15,000 people are without homes or means to feed themselves, with hundreds of houses completely destroyed. It said there had been widespread flooding and damage to plantations. The Haitian government announced emergency aid totaling the equivalent of 30,000 dollars. Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Monday that Dennis had killed 16 people in his country, destroying or damaging 120,000 homes and causing more than 1.4 billion dollars in damage. One person also died when Dennis hit Jamaica, and five died in the United States. As Emily approached early on Friday, the US State Department authorized non-emergency US embassy staff and relatives in Jamaica to leave Kingston and urged US citizens to carefully consider the risk of travel to both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
New Orleans Colleges To Reopen This Week
New Orleans, Louisiana (AFP) Jan 05, 2006Thousands of students and faculty are returning to New Orleans' eight colleges and universities this week for the first time since hurricane Katrina flooded the city four months ago. |
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