Living in Grand Cayman

The storm is almost here.  Strong wind and LOTS of rain.

We are ready for the storm and are hoping for the best. Lots of people on the road as of 10:30am … tropical storm force winds are expected by noon today.

Here are a bunch of pictures I took this morning.

Here is the lineup at the gas station.

A frog found its way into my garage and onto the roof of my truck.  i think it wanted to get out of the path of the storm 🙂

Massive puddles in the street.  Here you have at least 6-8 inches of water.

Lakes on people lawns … it has rained so much recently that the earth cannot absorb anymore.

Good morning,

Its before 6am and the sun is not yet up.  Julie & I did some last minute preparation this morning.

If you look at the picture below, its obvious that we are not going to escape this one like we did for Gustav a few months ago.

The storm is still a Category 1 but will probably be a 2 by the time the center gets close to us.  Its raining very heavily here and the wind is quite strong!  I am typing really fast since we lost internet service earlier and its back now but who know for how long.

Keep us in your thought and prayers!  Ill every few hours if internet/power permits.

Its raining profusely and the wind has picked up a lot.  I just did a quick reconnaissance around the house and was totally soaked after less than 5 minutes.

Lots of people on the road and once again, just like before Gustav, we saw a few car accidents.  People are nerveous and have lots on their minds, so car accidents seem to happen a lot pre-hurricane.

The bad news is that the system has sped up and that now we are expecting tropical storm winds around noon on friday, so any remaining tasks need to be done friday at the crack of dawn.

Below, the different computer models published by various weather services seem to have a consensus that its headed for us!  It sucks … but we are ready!

Going to try to get some sleep now … updates in the morning and as long as we have power, ill be updating my blog often.

Its official.  Paloma is now a hurricane category 1! Damn … 🙁

Julie & I have indeed “rushed to completion” our preparations.  Only a few things remain to do tomorrow morning.

Here it is … could pass directly on Grand Cayman.  Not good.

Stay tuned for more updates soon. Its raining on and off here.  Some wind, but not all that much.  The rain comes down very hard for a few seconds here & there.

Its not yet a hurricane, but it is a forgone conclusion that it will be very soon.

A Hurricane warning is now in effect.  This means that (as per the Miami Hurricane Center) ” … HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.” A curfew will most probably be imposed tomorrow afternoon or evening.

That “rushed to completion” expression spooks me every time.

Here is Paloma.

Almost all companies & schools have announced that they are closed tomorrow.  While driving back home from work the groceries were packed with people and there were lineups at gas stations.  Really glad we did that last night.

Now i have to pick up all our stuff outside such as the BBQ and make sure that we are ready by noon tomorrow.

More posts to come.