Hurricane Dennis lashes Jamaica, aims at Cuba

By Horace Helps

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) – Hurricane Dennis lashed Haiti
and Jamaica with flooding rain and strengthened into a major
storm with 115-mph (185-kph) winds as it approached Cuba on
Thursday.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said
Dennis would hit Cuba on Friday and head into the Gulf of
Mexico, where U.S. oil companies prepared for another possible
strike on oil and gas rigs.

It was expected to brush past the Florida Keys on Saturday
and slam ashore on Sunday on the U.S. coast along the Florida
Panhandle, which was hammered by Hurricane Ivan in September.
Residents were ordered to evacuate Key West and the lower
Florida Keys, an island chain connected to the southern tip of
Florida by a single highway.

“When Dennis gets into the Gulf of Mexico, this will be a
whole statewide problem,” said Florida state meteorologist Ken
Nelson. “This is going to be a very large storm like Ivan.”

Cuba evacuated thousands of people from central and
southeastern parts of the island where heavy rainfall was
expected, particularly in the Sierra Maestra mountains.
Authorities warned of life-threatening flash floods and
mudslides.

Strong gusts of wind before the hurricane knocked down
trees in Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city, residents said.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for southwestern Haiti,
Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, most of Cuba and parts of the
Florida Keys.

At 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), the center of Dennis was about 90
miles southeast of Cabo Cruze in southeastern Cuba, the
hurricane center said.

Its winds strengthened to 115 mph (185 kph), making it a
“major” hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, one capable of
destroying mobile homes and doing structural damage to small
buildings. Forecasters expected it to strengthen further before
moving over Cuba.

HEAVY RAINS, MUDSLIDES

Dennis drenched Jamaica with heavy rains, triggering
mudslides that blocked roads as the core of the storm moved
north of the mountainous Caribbean island of 2.6 million on
Thursday. About 3,000 Jamaicans moved to storm shelters in
south-central Jamaica, which was battered by Hurricane Ivan in
September.

Jamaica’s airports shut down, supermarkets ran low on
supplies as people stocked up on nonperishable goods, and
schools were closed. Soldiers and police were put on alert to
prevent looting.

Tourists in the coastal resort cities of Negril, Ocho Rios
and Montego Bay snuggled into their hotels but were not asked
to move to shelters.

“Not one tourist is panicking. Their only big concern is
that those who have flights to board to the United States,
Britain and other parts of Europe in particular, have not been
able to leave because of the closure of the two international
airports,” said Patrick McGann, owner and manager of the
Beachcomber Hotel in Negril.

Heavy rain flooded parts of southern Haiti, where wind
gusts of 100 mph (160 kph) were recorded and civil defense
officials advised residents in low-lying areas to take shelter
in churches and schools. Three people were injured when a tree
fell on a house in the town of Coteaux, but no deaths were
reported, the officials said.

The storm also doused the Cayman Islands, a tiny British
territory and banking center with 43,000 residents. Residents
there were still rebuilding from Hurricane Ivan, which damaged
or destroyed 70 percent of the buildings on Grand Cayman Island
in September.

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.

It 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.

Florida prepared to send help to neighboring Gulf states if
needed, but Division of Emergency Management Director Craig
Fugate said, “It’s probably going to be us asking for help.”

Oil companies evacuated some workers from offshore rigs in
the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico and oil and natural gas
production was down 3 percent to 4 percent from normal. U.S.
crude futures hit a record of more than $62 a barrel as Dennis
strengthened, before falling after a series of bomb attacks in
London.