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Hurricane Dennis headed for Jamaica, Cuba

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 09:51 CDT

By Horace Helps

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) - Hurricane Dennis soaked southwestern Haiti and took aim at Jamaica with 105 mph (170 kph) winds on Thursday as U.S. oil companies readied for another possible storm strike on oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

About 3,000 people in Jamaica moved to storm shelters, most from the village of Portland Cottage in south-central Jamaica, which was battered by Hurricane Ivan last September.

Dennis' fringes had already reached the mountainous Caribbean island of 2.6 million people and forecasters expected its core to move north of the coast later on Thursday. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson hurried home from a meeting of Caribbean leaders in St. Lucia to deal with the coming storm.

Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said residents were being evacuated from flood-prone areas. Rain has already caused mudslides that blocked roads.

Air Jamaica canceled flights to and from the island. Supermarkets ran low on supplies as people rushed to stock up on nonperishable goods, and schools were closed.

Soldiers and police were put on alert to prevent looting, said Community Development Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

"We will not tolerate criminal activity of any kind during this period and the security forces have pledged to be efficient," said Simpson Miller.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for southwestern Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and parts of eastern Cuba, including the U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay, where the United States holds more than 500 foreign terrorism suspects.

Deforested Haiti was particularly vulnerable to flash floods and mudslides. About 6,000 people died in floods last year.

In Haiti, the heaviest rain was in the southwest, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. Forecasters said up to 10 inches (25 cm) of rain could fall on southern Haiti.

Dennis was expected to hit western Cuba on Friday and move into the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday on a path toward the Gulf oil and gas fields. It was expected to hit the U.S. coast near Alabama on Sunday, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), the center of Dennis was about 130 miles east-southeast of Kingston, and moving northwest at about 10 mph (16 kph), the hurricane center said.

Its 105 mph (170 kph) winds were just below the 111 mph (179 kph) of a "major" hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, one capable of destroying mobile homes and doing structural damage to small buildings.

JUST THE FOURTH STORM THIS YEAR

Dennis followed closely on the heels of Tropical Storm Cindy, which flooded streets and knocked out power to thousands of people around New Orleans this week.

Dennis took a track similar to that of Ivan, which played havoc with U.S. oil and natural gas production in the Gulf before striking the coast around Pensacola, Florida last year. It caused about $13 billion in damage.

Oil companies evacuated some workers from offshore rigs for Cindy this week and were watching Dennis closely. U.S. crude futures hit a record of more than $62 a barrel as Dennis was upgraded to a hurricane, before falling after a series of bomb attacks in London.

Source: REUTERS

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