hurricane season 2017

[MiamiDRGuy]

Update for you all:

DR has its own alike NOAA but I am not sure if its real or they just pull all data from NOAA, you can see it her: http://onamet.gov.do

 

[ju10prd]

Waking up to see an old part time home of Barbuda take a direct hit. It is a flat island apart from the heights which are a mere hundred foot or so above sea level and the majority of the islands 1600 residents live in Codrington which is a s close to sea level as you can get alongside and inland sea water lagoon. I can only imagine the map of Barbuda will be changed forever after this event having been involved in coastal engineering studies there with the projected beach erosions being huge in the event of major storm. Incidentally the island is a major source of sand for construction in the region and houses the one of largest colonies of nesting frigate birds in the world. It was a most beautiful island with some of the very finest untouched beaches in the Caribbean.

I am seeing from the current satellite tracking that the storm seems to be heading for the Puerto Rica island of Culebra which puts it just south of St Martin, Anguilla and St Barts. Now that is going to be very rough for those folks and Anguilla is again a very flat island with little relief whereas the other two have some hills.

The NHC centre track at 5am has drifted a bit north which on the face of it is better news for DR, but the UKMet model still remains closer and is the only one predicting the closer pass to PR which appears the track. I note the GFS run has just moved a bit west again.

This really emphasizes that nothing is certain until the storm passes and it could move away or closer in the coming couple of days.

As always assume the worst and hope for the best. I am heading south to home from NC shortly. Safe times to all that remain.

Final point in response to some earlier post observations, the electricity companies cut the power in the islands before a storm onset. Nevis cut the island power at about 8pm last evening and no doubt other islands followed up and it will stay off until the all clear and after the electricity crews have checked the whole island network for power lines down risking life if reactivated. Hence no webcams.

 

[caribmike]

St. Maarten

[video=youtube_share;WgS2hMZAsek]https://youtu.be/WgS2hMZAsek[/video]

 

[windeguy]

Current prediction seems to be a bit further north.

Today: for the north coast the probability of tropical storm wind speed is 90% and probability of hurricane wind speed is 40%. Current tracking seems to be further north. Eight inches of rain. We are directly in the middle of the 3 day prediction cone as of 5 AM AST. A bit further north would be better.

 

[windeguy]

 

[cbmitch9]

Spoke to my nephew in Sint Maarten around 4 AM and he said the building was shaking and wind high winds. My brother in St. Croix said that the winds sounded like a jet engine and that was around 6 AM this morning.

 

[AlterEgo]

Computer translation. Where are they all supposed to GO????

COE orders mandatory evacuations in the 17 provinces on red alert by Irma

By: JHONNY TRINIDAD Date:September 06, 2017In: Notify APP AlMomento , Cover 0 Comments

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Dominican Republic will be impacted Thursday by Hurricane Irma of category five and whose winds reached 295 kilometers per hour, so that the Emergency Operations Center (COE) issued a red alert for 17 provinces and yellow for another 12 .

In red are La Altagracia, El Seibo, Hato Mayor, Samaná, Espaillat, Maria Trinidad Sánchez, Puerto Plata, Monte Cristi, La Romana, Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal, National District, Pedernales, Barahona, Peravia, Azua and San Pedro de Macorís .

In yellow, Dajabón, Santiago Rodríguez, Valverde, Monte Plata, Santiago, La Vega, Duarte, Sánchez Ramírez, Hermanas Mirabal, Ocoa, Monseñor Nouel and San Juan. While Elías Piña, Independencia and Bahoruco are on green alert.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the COE, ordered mandatory evacuations in the red alert zones last night.
The National Meteorological Office (Onamet) maintains warning of hurricane conditions from Cabo Engaño to Bahía de Manzanillo and alert of storm conditions from Cabo Engaño to Saona Island, including localities of the East, Northeast, North, South and Northwest regions from the country.

Gloria Ceballos, director of that agency, reported that the rains associated with Irma will begin to feel from the afternoon of this Wednesday.

He said that the most intense downpours will be recorded between dawn tomorrow and Friday, because in that time the phenomenon will transit the North coast in Atlantic waters.

"We are going to have hurricane conditions on the north coast and storm conditions on the south coast," he added.

He indicated that hurricane-force winds will extend up to 95 kilometers from its center and with storm force up to 280 kilometers.


http://almomento.net/coe-ordena-eva...en-las-17-provincias-en-alerta-roja-por-irma/

 

[windeguy]

 

[AlterEgo]

Apparently the order of evacuation is fake news, nothing on the COE website. Sorry for misleading you.

 

[TropicalPaul]

If anyone is in any doubt as to the force or Irma, have a look at these videos coming in from St Maarten

https://twitter.com/StormchaserUKEU?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

Got up this morning and the ground was wet in Sosua. Did I miss it?

With the morning levity out of the way and with what was probably the last uninterrupted sleep the next couple of nights over, time to take a final walk around and pickup all those little items that I tend to leave scattered here and there that I didn't grab yesterday.

When that little bit of work is done, I will probably head into town and take a few "before" pictures, perhaps empty a few cerveza bottles so that they will be easier to store safely (less weight) and then come home to hunker down and wait like everyone else.

As Irma moves past the DR, I assume internet service and electricity will disappear for many. I'm not a twitter user but set up an account (cdn_gringo) this morning and posted a couple of tweets to reserve #dr1irma for DR1 people to use to stay in touch. Those who are still waiting for the tormenta proper to arrive might find it comforting to hear from those further east who are experiencing it first hand before the cell towers get sucked away.

 

[Dolores1]

Robert reports that the downtime for DR1 was due to our data center located in Houston having issues. Let us hope all continues well.

In Santo Domingo, it is hot, very humid and sunny this morning. Traffic is not a problem. People seem to have taken preventive measures on Monday and Tuesday.

 

[caribmike]

Yup, went to autobanco popular and gasoline station, all normal, no bigger lines than usual.

 

[caribmike]

From CNN's Matou Diop:

France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb says the four strongest buildings on Saint Martin have been destroyed by Hurricane Irma. It's very possible that all other old buildings on the territory have been totally or partially destroyed, too, he said.

 

[2020]

My wife's friend called and said in Guadeloupe said they had some rain and the waves were a bit rocky, no damage to speak. It was predicted that Guadeloupe was supposed to get slammed.

Photos of St. Martin and Anguilla are horrific. I believe they were in the eye of the storm, though.

 

[2dlight]

It appears that people in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone area taking the warnings seriously. Just came from La Sirena and it was a challenge to move to along the aisles; shelves with popular items were being emptied as they were being stocked. Thirty minutes plus to check out and people waiting for shopping carts and baskets to become available.

 

[RG84]

It appears that people in Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone area taking the warnings seriously. Just came from La Sirena and it was a challenge to move to along the aisles; shelves with popular items were being emptied as they were being stocked. Thirty minutes plus to check out and people waiting for shopping carts and baskets to become available.

I felt this was going to happen and I went yesterday.

 

[Dolores1]

Reports are that La Sirena and Bravo in Julieta are packed. El Nacional announced they will stay open until midnight today.

 

[2020]

Live Weather Channel on cable TV just said that the eye of the hurricane has "wobbled a bit to the south" after going thru St. Bart's and the islands around there. (not good news)

 

[caribmike]

I felt this was going to happen and I went yesterday.

Expected, I went Sunday despite the joking of the wife La Sirena has Green Wednesday as usual today this plays a role too.