Gustav, The Aftermath

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It's a nice bright sunny morning here in Kingston today, well, apart from intermittent showers. Quiet a drastic contrast it is compared to yesterday morning when rain pelted the island and wind lashed violently. From the comfort of my apartment it seemed things were not too bad at all, I only had to contend with a little water trying to infiltrate my apartment under my door. However, I was quite amazed at the destruction then Tropical Storm Gustav wreaked across the island! It was a rather rude awakening when I sat down to watch the news on both TVJ and CVM, as the reported wide scale flooding, landslides, destroyed canals and roadways, damaged and destroyed houses, stranded people and last but not least, loss of lives. If a tropical storm did so much, I don't even want to imagine what would happened if Gustav hit us at Hurricane strength! Hopefully we can recover from this blow quickly, and I guess we can still count our blessings as it could be worse.

Gustav is now a little distance away form our neighbor the Cayman islands and now stronger than ever at Cat 3 with 120 mph winds! It is now on on a track to Cuba as it gains more power from the warm Caribbean Sea. Hopefully our friends in the Cayman islands didn't fare to badly as Gustav hit at about a Cat 2. All eyes are on Gustav still, as it certainly has captured every one's attention since its birth and rapid growth couples with its ever increasing strength. The northern tip of Cuba is next and then it will have it's eyes set on the United States south coast. Even if Cuba weakens this system, it has ample time and fuel to regain its strength and get even stronger when it enters the warm Gulf of Mexico.

I have seen that some of my fellow Jamaican bloggers made it through the storm pretty OK. I am hoping to hear from the rest and also from our Cayman bloggers. I actually went in to work on Friday evening until this morning, wasn't too bad as most things were accounted for by the previous team, but mi want fi sleep yah now! Hope all is well with everyone.

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Gustav "Eyes" Jamaica! Update 1

Well as far as I can guess based on where I am, tropical storm Gustav has not affected us here in Jamaica as Dean did last year. I only experienced short bursts of strong gusty winds starting at about 3:00 pm. This did not last long or seem to have done much damage here in the Kingston metropolitan area. As I type this post outside is basically still, however we have been experiencing constant rain starting from about 5:30 pm. despite the relative calm here in Kingston, there have been reports on the news the eastern and southeastern side of the island has been experiencing strong winds and heavy rains. There have also been houses that have lost their roofs and some have been blown down. Below are some videos I captured on my Stunnercam.

Effects of Gustav on Kingston at approximately 4:00pm

Effects of Gustav on Kingston at approximately 7:30pm

Stay safe everyone who is in the eye of the storm.

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Gustav "Eyes" Jamaica!

"I just saw the latest projected path. I'm no meteorologist but I doubt the fishermen will even have to come ashore." - Gussie, Wed Aug 27, 03:50:00 PM

"Gustav,
A thousand pardons for underestimating you earlier. Please look favourably on our little island and keep the huffing and puffing to a minimum..." - Gussie, Thu Aug 28, 08:21:00 AM


Well, that seems to have been the change in reaction of most Jamaicans to the radical, abrupt and totally unexpected turn tropical storm Gustav made. What seemed to have been a walk in the park with Gustav going north of Jamaica and only delivering some rain to the island has certainly changed! Gustav after been weakened by Haiti from a Cat 1 hurricane to a tropical storm has strengthened to a strong tropical storm and almost at hurricane strength, clocking 70 mph at 10:00am today. It has also changed direction and has lined up Jamaica real good! I seems we will be in for a rough evening and night as Gustav unleash it's fury on Jamaica. It's already cloudy here in Jamaica and there have been a few showers of rain thus far, signaling the definate approach of the impending storm.

I have my water and a couple of tin foods, not a lot though. I haven't battened down the glass piece in my window, but it should be ok though. I am going to get a few candles from my friend shortly , who has a whole box.So I am pretty much prepared for a tropical storm or Cat 1 hurricane. I will be home during this hurricane, and thus at the mercy of the power outages that may be caused by the storm or maybe hurricane. But I will try to post updates periodically during the storm so those outside of the rock can know what's going on. All my Jamaican peeps, stay safe during the storm and the Cayman peeps stay prepared!

Oh just another news flash! There is now another named tropical storm in the Atlantic, called Hanna! I will keep an eye on that too after the passing of Gustav.

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Hurricane Watch!

Once again we are in the active part of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and it certainly is proving to be more active than earlier in the season. Fay skimmed us a few days ago amidst our Olympic fever. However, there is a new threat, Gustav which has strengthen from a tropical depression to a category 1 hurricane in just 2 days. To keep you all up to date with the progression of the hurricane, I have posed below live feeds to track the hurricane. I have included satellite images from two weather websites so you can get updates from more than one source all in one place.

Weather.com

National Weather Serivce

Hopefully this one misses us and doesn't do too much damage to our neighbouring islands.

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Usain Bolt Celebrates Early ... Very Early

My coworker emailed this video to me today, which is a comical remake of Usain Bolt's 100 meter Olympic record. I found it quite funny, even they are poking fun at Bolt. But I guess we have to have laugh sometimes even of such great moments. Hope you like it.

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The Gold Rush Continues!!!

Once again, the bird nest Stadium shakes with excitement and great track performances! I know it seems all I have been posting about is the Olympics. But I just can help it! how could I contain the jubilant feeling I have inside when I witness the Jamaica team capture one medal after the next especially the well envied goal medal!

Early yesterday morning local time Veronica Campbell-Brown certainly delivered a great performance as she raced to victory in the women's 200 meter finals and claiming the gold medal. She ran through the race powerfully and confidently from start to finish and it certainly paid off! Congratulations to Veronica Campbell Brown on winning the 200 meter sprint in 21.74 seconds and making her country even more proud!

This morning was no different from yesterday as I was just as filled with anticipation and excitement as yesterday or maybe even more. I am sure the entire Jamaica was feeling the same way. Why? It was the finals for both the female 100 meter relays and the men's 100 meter relays! i was on my way to work when the female race began, as some unknown anomaly messed with my alarm and I got up later than I should. I was looking forward to seeing another historic victory, to see Jamaica take home the gold once again. However, this was not to be, as I listened with horror when I heard that the Jamaica female team dropped the baton. My heart and no doubt the hearts of the entire Jamaican population sank when they witnessed this disappointment. This was indeed a great disappointment as we were all looking for another great gold. Nevertheless, I am still proud of the women, despite this mishap, they all still put on a great show and made our country proud in other events. Such is life, you win some, you loose some.

By the time I arrived at the office and gobbled down some breakfast, the excitement had already started to build, despite the earlier disappointment. Everyone was rearing to go as it was time for the 100 meter male relays. This was a promising race with the biggest track stars on the Jamaica team, the two fastest men in the world, Asafa and Bolt. We all kept our fingers crossed and prayed for safe baton changes, the speed of the athletes in the race was not of much concern as we knew they could deliver on that. Everyone was on their mark with the athletes, and the room was filled with noise as the gun went off, we were all shouting, cheering and beating the table as this will have to be the race to redeem our earlier emotions. Our men relay team certainly delivered and avenged the fate of the female team as the blasted through the finish line, claiming the gold medal and setting a new world record of 37.10 seconds! Congratulations to the men's 4x100 team on an amazing victory! I must also extent congrats to the Trinidad and Tobago team who fished second to claim the silver medal. the entire Caribbean must be feeling proud right now!

This has been such an exciting and record breaking Olympics for Jamaica and it is not yet over as, we still have a few more events to go. Hopefully we can do well in these event's and continue on our Gold rush!

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