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Tomas
Well it is getting a little breezy now....
I am going for a wander, get some breakfast and take a look around.
I had to grab extra blanklets last night - do not remember that happening since last feb in the D.R.
I am going for a wander, get some breakfast and take a look around.
I had to grab extra blanklets last night - do not remember that happening since last feb in the D.R.
Well if the wind strengthens there're going to be blankets and sheets flying around like crazy over there. Keep us posted
Associated Press
Hurricane Tomas floods quake-shattered town
By JACOB KUSHNER , 11.05.10, 11:11 AM EDT
LEOGANE, Haiti -- Hurricane Tomas flooded the earthquake-shattered remains of a Haitian town on Friday, forcing families who had already lost their homes in one disaster to flee another. In the country's capital, quake refugees resisted calls to abandon flimsy tarp and tent camps.
Driving winds and storm surge battered Leogane, a seaside town west of Port-au-Prince that was near the epicenter of the Jan. 12 earthquake and was 90 percent destroyed. Dozens of families in one earthquake-refuge camp took their belongings through thigh-high water to a taxi post on high ground, waiting out the rest of the storm under blankets and a sign that read "Welcome to Leogane."
"We got flooded out and we're just waiting for the storm to pass. There's nothing we can do," said Johnny Joseph, a 20-year-old resident.
The growing hurricane with 85 mph (140 kph) winds, was battering the western tip of Haiti's southern peninsula and the cities of Jeremie and Les Cayes.
One man drowned while trying to ford a river in an SUV in the rural area of Grand-Anse, said civil protection official Pierre Andre. The hurricane had earlier killed at least 14 people in the eastern Caribbean.
The center of the storm was about 140 miles (230 kilometers) west of from Port-au-Prince, draping charcoal clouds over the city. Steady rain turned the streets of the capital into flowing canals that carried garbage through the city. Farther north in Gonaives, a coastal city twice inundated by recent tropical storms, police evacuated more than 200 inmates from one prison to another.
Aid workers are concerned the storm will worsen Haiti's cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 440 people and hospitalized more than 6,700 others.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted dangerous storm surges along the coast and possible flash floods and mudslides in mountainous areas.
Haiti's civil protection department had urged people living in camps for the 1.3 million Haitians made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake to go to the homes of friends and family.
By evening it was clear most camp residents were not heeding the advice. People in the yard of a high school on the Delmas 33 thoroughfare in Port-au-Prince said their camp's governing committee had passed along the official advice to leave, but they decided to stockpile water and tie down their tents instead.
Buses began circulating around the camps just after dark Thursday night to take residents away, but few were willing to go. Four civil protection buses that pulled up at a camp in the Canape-Vert district left with about five passengers on them.
Many camp residents stayed put out of fear they would lose their few possessions and, worse, be denied permission to return when the storm was over.
"I'm scared that if I leave they'll tear this whole place down. I don't have money to pay for a home somewhere else," said Clarice Napoux, 21, who lives with her boyfriend on a soccer field behind the St. Therese church in Petionville. They lost their house to the quake and their only income is the little she makes selling uncooked rice, beans and dry goods.
Late Thursday, Tomas passed to the east of Jamaica, where schools remained closed and public transportation was stalled on Friday as the island struggled with widespread flooding from a previous storm.
Patrice Edmond, a maid who caught a ride into Kingston, said buses were not operating.
"I barely got a drive to come over, but I'm a determined person," she said.
Tomas was expected to advance on through the strait that divides Haiti from Cuba.
Ninety miles (150 kilometers) northwest of the storm's eye at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba, the military cleared away any debris that could fly off in strong winds, suspended flights, canceled school and closed the harbor to recreational craft.
Tomas was moving to the north-northeast at about 12 mph (19 kph) and tropical-storm-force winds extended as far as 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the center.
Forecasters warned of a dangerous storm surge that would generate "large and destructive waves" and raise water levels up to 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) above normal tide levels. It also predicted rainfall of 5 to 10 inches (12 to 25 centimeters) for much of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola.
Port-au-Prince's airport was expected to be closed through Friday, American Airlines ( AMR - news - people ) spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said.
Most of Haiti's post-quake homeless live under donated plastic tarps on open fields. It is often private land, where they have been constantly fighting eviction. A September report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said 29 percent of 1,268 camps studied had been closed forcibly, meaning the often violent relocation of tens of thousands of people.
Haitian human-rights lawyer Mario Joseph, who testified on behalf of those evicted before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this summer, said he fears the government is using the storm as an excuse to drive people off disputed land.
"I think it's going to be a time of eviction," he said. He said he has advised people who know they are at risk for floods, landslides and wind damage to stay in buildings near the camp and return to their squatters' sites as soon as possible after the storm.
Reconstruction has barely begun and even the building of transitional shelters - sturdier than makeshift tents, but not solid houses - has been slow. Large installments of long-term funds, including a promised $1.15 billion from the United States, have not arrived. The State Department now says it still has to prove the money won't be stolen or misused.
As rebuilding lags, the United Nations and aid groups have been giving people reasons to stay in camps, providing aid and essential services such as medicine. That continued Thursday as residents reluctant to leave were given reinforcing tarps and other materials.
"We have always said that the best way to protect people in camps is to make camps as resistant as possible to any weather," said Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "(Evacuation) doesn't make sense ... on a practical level, on a large scale."
Residents of the nearly 8,000-person government relocation camp at Corail-Cesselesse threw bottles at aid workers trying to get them to leave their ShelterBox tents for schools, churches and an abandoned prison nearby.
"If we go away, other people are going to move in our place! We want to stay here because we don't have another place to go," said 29-year-old Roland Jean.
The camp's grounds were designed by U.S. military engineers and graded by the United Nations. But the selection of the site has been criticized by aid groups: The desert plain nine miles (15 kilometers) north of the city constantly floods and suffers wind damage.
Camp officials finally resolved the dispute and several hundred people left Thursday afternoon on trucks provided by U.N. peacekeepers. An AP reporter found that while the school, church and abandoned hospital chosen as shelters for them were large and undamaged, they had no water or usable toilets.
Tomas killed at least 14 people when it slammed the eastern Caribbean country of St. Lucia as a hurricane Saturday. It will cost roughly $500 million to repair flattened banana fields, destroyed houses, broken bridges and eroded beaches on the island, according to Prime Minister Stephenson King.
A hurricane warning was issued for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, on the storm's path once it emerges from the strait between Haiti and Cuba.
In Little Inagua Island, the owners of the island's only grocery store brought in extra supplies this week to ensure no one would be short of food or plywood.
"It was a mad rush," said Father Glover, 27, a priest at St. Philips' Anglican Church in Matthew Town, the island's only settlement. "A lot of people have been battering down the hatches and securing their homes."
The airport in Turks and Caicos closed on Friday as tourists walked outside and observed the gathering storm clouds.
"It's a shame that we can't enjoy the stuff that we came here to do, but we are still going to stay," said Shelly Schulz, 37, of New York state, who arrived four days ago with her husband and three children.
Associated Press television producer Chris Gillette in Croix-des-Bouquets, writers Jonathan M. Katz and Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Megan Reynolds in Nassau, Bahamas, Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica, Vivian Tyson in Turks and Caicos Islands contributed to this report.
Hurricane Tomas floods quake-shattered town
By JACOB KUSHNER , 11.05.10, 11:11 AM EDT
LEOGANE, Haiti -- Hurricane Tomas flooded the earthquake-shattered remains of a Haitian town on Friday, forcing families who had already lost their homes in one disaster to flee another. In the country's capital, quake refugees resisted calls to abandon flimsy tarp and tent camps.
Driving winds and storm surge battered Leogane, a seaside town west of Port-au-Prince that was near the epicenter of the Jan. 12 earthquake and was 90 percent destroyed. Dozens of families in one earthquake-refuge camp took their belongings through thigh-high water to a taxi post on high ground, waiting out the rest of the storm under blankets and a sign that read "Welcome to Leogane."
"We got flooded out and we're just waiting for the storm to pass. There's nothing we can do," said Johnny Joseph, a 20-year-old resident.
The growing hurricane with 85 mph (140 kph) winds, was battering the western tip of Haiti's southern peninsula and the cities of Jeremie and Les Cayes.
One man drowned while trying to ford a river in an SUV in the rural area of Grand-Anse, said civil protection official Pierre Andre. The hurricane had earlier killed at least 14 people in the eastern Caribbean.
The center of the storm was about 140 miles (230 kilometers) west of from Port-au-Prince, draping charcoal clouds over the city. Steady rain turned the streets of the capital into flowing canals that carried garbage through the city. Farther north in Gonaives, a coastal city twice inundated by recent tropical storms, police evacuated more than 200 inmates from one prison to another.
Aid workers are concerned the storm will worsen Haiti's cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 440 people and hospitalized more than 6,700 others.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted dangerous storm surges along the coast and possible flash floods and mudslides in mountainous areas.
Haiti's civil protection department had urged people living in camps for the 1.3 million Haitians made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake to go to the homes of friends and family.
By evening it was clear most camp residents were not heeding the advice. People in the yard of a high school on the Delmas 33 thoroughfare in Port-au-Prince said their camp's governing committee had passed along the official advice to leave, but they decided to stockpile water and tie down their tents instead.
Buses began circulating around the camps just after dark Thursday night to take residents away, but few were willing to go. Four civil protection buses that pulled up at a camp in the Canape-Vert district left with about five passengers on them.
Many camp residents stayed put out of fear they would lose their few possessions and, worse, be denied permission to return when the storm was over.
"I'm scared that if I leave they'll tear this whole place down. I don't have money to pay for a home somewhere else," said Clarice Napoux, 21, who lives with her boyfriend on a soccer field behind the St. Therese church in Petionville. They lost their house to the quake and their only income is the little she makes selling uncooked rice, beans and dry goods.
Late Thursday, Tomas passed to the east of Jamaica, where schools remained closed and public transportation was stalled on Friday as the island struggled with widespread flooding from a previous storm.
Patrice Edmond, a maid who caught a ride into Kingston, said buses were not operating.
"I barely got a drive to come over, but I'm a determined person," she said.
Tomas was expected to advance on through the strait that divides Haiti from Cuba.
Ninety miles (150 kilometers) northwest of the storm's eye at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba, the military cleared away any debris that could fly off in strong winds, suspended flights, canceled school and closed the harbor to recreational craft.
Tomas was moving to the north-northeast at about 12 mph (19 kph) and tropical-storm-force winds extended as far as 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the center.
Forecasters warned of a dangerous storm surge that would generate "large and destructive waves" and raise water levels up to 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) above normal tide levels. It also predicted rainfall of 5 to 10 inches (12 to 25 centimeters) for much of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola.
Port-au-Prince's airport was expected to be closed through Friday, American Airlines ( AMR - news - people ) spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said.
Most of Haiti's post-quake homeless live under donated plastic tarps on open fields. It is often private land, where they have been constantly fighting eviction. A September report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said 29 percent of 1,268 camps studied had been closed forcibly, meaning the often violent relocation of tens of thousands of people.
Haitian human-rights lawyer Mario Joseph, who testified on behalf of those evicted before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this summer, said he fears the government is using the storm as an excuse to drive people off disputed land.
"I think it's going to be a time of eviction," he said. He said he has advised people who know they are at risk for floods, landslides and wind damage to stay in buildings near the camp and return to their squatters' sites as soon as possible after the storm.
Reconstruction has barely begun and even the building of transitional shelters - sturdier than makeshift tents, but not solid houses - has been slow. Large installments of long-term funds, including a promised $1.15 billion from the United States, have not arrived. The State Department now says it still has to prove the money won't be stolen or misused.
As rebuilding lags, the United Nations and aid groups have been giving people reasons to stay in camps, providing aid and essential services such as medicine. That continued Thursday as residents reluctant to leave were given reinforcing tarps and other materials.
"We have always said that the best way to protect people in camps is to make camps as resistant as possible to any weather," said Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "(Evacuation) doesn't make sense ... on a practical level, on a large scale."
Residents of the nearly 8,000-person government relocation camp at Corail-Cesselesse threw bottles at aid workers trying to get them to leave their ShelterBox tents for schools, churches and an abandoned prison nearby.
"If we go away, other people are going to move in our place! We want to stay here because we don't have another place to go," said 29-year-old Roland Jean.
The camp's grounds were designed by U.S. military engineers and graded by the United Nations. But the selection of the site has been criticized by aid groups: The desert plain nine miles (15 kilometers) north of the city constantly floods and suffers wind damage.
Camp officials finally resolved the dispute and several hundred people left Thursday afternoon on trucks provided by U.N. peacekeepers. An AP reporter found that while the school, church and abandoned hospital chosen as shelters for them were large and undamaged, they had no water or usable toilets.
Tomas killed at least 14 people when it slammed the eastern Caribbean country of St. Lucia as a hurricane Saturday. It will cost roughly $500 million to repair flattened banana fields, destroyed houses, broken bridges and eroded beaches on the island, according to Prime Minister Stephenson King.
A hurricane warning was issued for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, on the storm's path once it emerges from the strait between Haiti and Cuba.
In Little Inagua Island, the owners of the island's only grocery store brought in extra supplies this week to ensure no one would be short of food or plywood.
"It was a mad rush," said Father Glover, 27, a priest at St. Philips' Anglican Church in Matthew Town, the island's only settlement. "A lot of people have been battering down the hatches and securing their homes."
The airport in Turks and Caicos closed on Friday as tourists walked outside and observed the gathering storm clouds.
"It's a shame that we can't enjoy the stuff that we came here to do, but we are still going to stay," said Shelly Schulz, 37, of New York state, who arrived four days ago with her husband and three children.
Associated Press television producer Chris Gillette in Croix-des-Bouquets, writers Jonathan M. Katz and Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Megan Reynolds in Nassau, Bahamas, Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica, Vivian Tyson in Turks and Caicos Islands contributed to this report.
Its 12:41 in the DR and the radar shows a huge red band of rain and storms coming from the south. I am no weather man but it looks like the band will cover the entire country of the DR. and bring heavy rains for about 12-24 hours. Looks like the East Coast is on the outer edge of the band but will still see some heavy rain and wind.
We are having gusts up to 40mph now in Punta Cana with periods of heavy rain.
We are having gusts up to 40mph now in Punta Cana with periods of heavy rain.
Starting about 2:00 pm, a sudden surge of gale force wind drove heavy rain horizontally into our ramada where we were having lunch, making us grab our plates and head to the bunker which is an impregnable stone and concrete block building practically oblivious to the elements. We'll hunker down until the wind subsides.
Great to hear that!!! Was afraid for Haiti, Wonder how the storm affected Jamaica and Cuba?
What government? From what I have been hearing and reading online, the government exists in name only. Each "government" agent, from customs to police, collect "taxes" and "fines" at will.
Sean Penn seems to be the only person who is in charge in any way. (And I still can't determine if his presence there is having a positive effect or a negative one.)
Yes, Gonaives is the Tough Point.
for the Rest it passed, over.
on the east we been very lucky to catch just a few hours of showers,
the outer band passed us for many hours early evening in very short Distance offshore, visible from land while the watchers stayed dry, lol.
now the latest Tailend is over Puerto Rico and approaching PR from the south, it should not be a big Deal for the eastern neighbour.
the Area 15-40 miles inland from the Eastshores I would guess caught some more of rough downpour after it was over here, a smaller portion is approaching Samana area from the SW now.
Radar on Guantanamo is Down since half of summer, no real estimates of the finally rainload that came down over eastern Cuba and now in NW Haiti, we will read it in the news soon.
PR Radar is working fine as usual,
min 90% of what is out there on our SE will pass offshore PC.
what's the late night News in santiago, POP etc etc??
how did the Capital Survive today?
anybody in the Area of Lago Enriquillo?
Mike
for the Rest it passed, over.
on the east we been very lucky to catch just a few hours of showers,
the outer band passed us for many hours early evening in very short Distance offshore, visible from land while the watchers stayed dry, lol.
now the latest Tailend is over Puerto Rico and approaching PR from the south, it should not be a big Deal for the eastern neighbour.
the Area 15-40 miles inland from the Eastshores I would guess caught some more of rough downpour after it was over here, a smaller portion is approaching Samana area from the SW now.
Radar on Guantanamo is Down since half of summer, no real estimates of the finally rainload that came down over eastern Cuba and now in NW Haiti, we will read it in the news soon.
PR Radar is working fine as usual,
min 90% of what is out there on our SE will pass offshore PC.
what's the late night News in santiago, POP etc etc??
how did the Capital Survive today?
anybody in the Area of Lago Enriquillo?
Mike
As I said on your topic Mike!
Quiet in Sabaneta De Yasica, cloudy, no rain, no wind.
Going to have another drink and enjoy the crickets singing.
Cheers Mike :bunny:
Quiet in Sabaneta De Yasica, cloudy, no rain, no wind.
Going to have another drink and enjoy the crickets singing.
Cheers Mike :bunny:
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so are we here on the East.
zero wind
zero waves
dry aside of a 2-3 minutes sprinkling around 7:15AM this morning
Skies are overcast
Air feels perfectly Fresh
all Boats are out for Fishing
Mike
zero wind
zero waves
dry aside of a 2-3 minutes sprinkling around 7:15AM this morning
Skies are overcast
Air feels perfectly Fresh
all Boats are out for Fishing
Mike
Report from Bani
The southern coast of the DR in Bani has sunshine this morning.
There was some minor flooding yesterday, a couple of streets impassable, but that is over with. We had lots and lots and lots of rain.
Today, rivers and streams are swollen and dangerous if anyone should get too close. In a brilliant and providential move, the government finished dredging and chanelling the river just last month, and from what I have heard from long-term residents, that has prevented a great deal of flooding and ensuing misery.
I plan to drive to the beach today to see what sort of effect the strong waves had.
All in all, we're all thankful, because we know it could have been so much worse.
The southern coast of the DR in Bani has sunshine this morning.
There was some minor flooding yesterday, a couple of streets impassable, but that is over with. We had lots and lots and lots of rain.
Today, rivers and streams are swollen and dangerous if anyone should get too close. In a brilliant and providential move, the government finished dredging and chanelling the river just last month, and from what I have heard from long-term residents, that has prevented a great deal of flooding and ensuing misery.
I plan to drive to the beach today to see what sort of effect the strong waves had.
All in all, we're all thankful, because we know it could have been so much worse.
nice to Hear it worked Out.
since a Few Minutes also here on the East the Sun comes trough.
still a lot of clouds around,
but they do actually not look like any Rain, just a mix of clouds and Sun
Mike
since a Few Minutes also here on the East the Sun comes trough.
still a lot of clouds around,
but they do actually not look like any Rain, just a mix of clouds and Sun
Mike
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Bit flooded down near the airport in PaP today.
The road from St Marc to Gonaives has been deliberately cut to allow water to pass in the area of Savanne Desole. Smart move but inconvenient.
So communications have been severed north/south for now.
Port de Paix caught some wind and there is some damage.
The UN base down at the airport is under about 3 feet of water - the bridges near Croix Bouqets and Marassa have water up to the level of the road - looking a bit unstable apparently.
Hopefully the water will be gone in a day or so - leaving a load of mud to clean up.
Yuck!
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Bit flooded down near the airport in PaP today.
The road from St Marc to Gonaives has been deliberately cut to allow water to pass in the area of Savanne Desole. Smart move but inconvenient.
So communications have been severed north/south for now.
Port de Paix caught some wind and there is some damage.
The UN base down at the airport is under about 3 feet of water - the bridges near Croix Bouqets and Marassa have water up to the level of the road - looking a bit unstable apparently.
Hopefully the water will be gone in a day or so - leaving a load of mud to clean up.
Yuck!