Storm Warnings Posted in Jamaica, Caymans
KINGSTON, Jamaica _ Galvanized by a potential natural disaster just over the horizon and rushing toward them, residents of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands fortified themselves Saturday for the unwelcome arrival of Hurricane Dean.
“Let us band together and unite in the threat of this hurricane,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, who ordered shelters opened across the island as watches and warnings were posted there and in the Caribbean.
Dean exploded into a Category 4 storm and it kept intensifying as it roared through the warm Caribbean, striking glancing _ but powerful _ blows at Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. At one point Saturday, its winds built to 150 mph.
By midday Saturday, its most powerful outer squalls approached the large island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
It central core was predicted to pass just south of Haiti late Saturday, with the rest of the billowing storm bringing up to six inches of torrential rain to that flood-prone country. As many as 20 inches could inundate parts of Jamaica.
“I’m a little panicky,” said Kerns Olibrice, 28, who lives in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Kenscoff.
The core seemed certain to strike or come dangerously close to Jamaica and the tiny Caymans on Sunday and Monday. Then, Cancun, Cozumel and neighboring areas on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula could be in grave danger.
“Dean could become a Category 5 at any time before it reaches Yucatan,” said hurricane specialist Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.
Dean will pass well south of South Florida, though its secondary effects will elevate offshore seas through Monday and pump some rain and wind into the region.
The storm will reach the Gulf of Mexico next week _ and then strike the Gulf Coast, possibly near the Texas-Mexico border.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared the storm an “imminent threat” and NASA announced that it will bring shuttle Endeavour and its crew home a day early on Tuesday, in case Dean veers toward its control center in Houston.
As a Category 2 hurricane, Dean killed three people Friday in St. Lucia and Dominica. Then, it strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane. By the time it reaches Jamaica, the Caymans and the Yucatan, it could approach or exceed Category 5 status, with winds above 155-mph.
“We are prepared for the worst,” said Kerry-Ann Morris, a Jamaican spokeswoman.
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(Miami Herald staff writers Trenton Daniel and Phil Long and special correspondent Conrad McLeod contributed to this report.)
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