Sandy makes landfall in Cuba; Jamaica, Haiti each see 1 death

Posted on Thursday, 10.25.12
Hurricane Sandy

Sandy makes landfall in Cuba; Jamaica, Haiti each see 1 death

Sandy, expected to remain a hurricane after crossing Cuba, hit Jamaica
and Haiti, causing at least two deaths.
Miami Herald Staff and Wire Reports

Hurricane Sandy made landfall Thursday just west of Santiago de Cuba in
southern Cuba, where people boarded over windows and cleared drainage
gutters ahead of the strengthening storm that had roared across Jamaica
and left two dead in the Caribbean.

At 8 a.m., the National Hurricane Center said Sandy was moving between
the northeast coast of Cuba and the central Bahamas with sustained winds
of 105 mph. The storm is traveling north at 18 mph.

The hurricane center in Miami-Dade said the storm hit Cuba with maximum
sustained winds of 114 mph. The center said that Sandy, which had
strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane overnight, is expected to remain
a hurricane as it moves through the Bahamas.

The 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was expected to
pass to the west of the U.S. naval base at Cuba's Guantánamo Bay, where
pretrial hearings were being held for a suspect in the deadly 2000
attack on the destroyer USS Cole off Yemen. The military warned the
5,500 people living on the U.S. base to be ready for the storm.
Officials said there was no threat to the 166 prisoners.

The hurricane center said after Cuba, Sandy would pass over the Bahamas.
It might bring tropical storm conditions along the southeastern Florida
coast, the Upper Keys and Florida Bay by Friday morning.

Cuba's Communist government announced the evacuation of about 450
tourists from beach resorts near Santiago, according to Cuban state
media, though hotel workers told The Associated Press they were not
expecting any major problems.

Sandy "is a complex of strong rains, very intense," said civil defense
Col. Miguel Angel Puig, adding that the rains could affect 200,000
people in Cuba.

The U.S. hurricane center had said Sandy is expected to produce total
rainfall of 6 to 12 inches across Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and
eastern Cuba.

Hurricane Sandy began what could be a long and damaging march out of the
Caribbean on Wednesday, leaving a string of Jamaican towns flooded and
at least one man dead, crushed by a boulder. In northern Haiti, one
person died while crossing a swollen river.

Florida, fortunately, was expected to dodge a direct hit and serious
disruption from Sandy, though Palm Beach County decided to close schools
early Thursday and cancel classes Friday. Miami-Dade and Broward planned
to follow regular schedules, although Broward canceled outdoor events
both days.

The hurricane center placed much of the coastline from the Middle Keys
to Flagler Beach under tropical storm warnings and watches. Forecasters
expect Sandy to weaken after crossing Cuba, but its wind field could
expand enough for outer bands and gusts of tropical storm force to brush
the South Florida coast. Still, its projected path through the Bahamas
should keep the strongest winds of its "dirty side" well offshore.

The forecast for South Florida calls for foul weather, with the worst
coming Thursday night and Friday: steady 25- to 35-mph winds with gusts
to 50 mph, 15-foot swells and heavy surf that could cause beach erosion
and strong thunderstorms.

DAMAGE IN JAMAICA

In Jamaica, where Sandy made landfall at 3 p.m. near the densely
populated capital of Kingston, damage was mounting. The Associated
Press, citing police, said at least one person had been killed, an
elderly man crushed by a boulder that rolled over his clapboard house.

Storm surge and heavy seas swamped waterfront homes in the eastern
Kingston neighborhood of Caribbean Terrace and the road to Kingston's
major airport. Flood water breached rivers and retaining walls, cutting
off some communities, including Kintyre in the St. Andrew Parish,
according to The Daily Gleaner newspaper. In St. Mary Parish on the
northern coast, directly under Sandy's fierce core, resident Pamella
Simms said power was out well before the storm reached the coast.

"Several trees have fallen and many houses have lost their roofs. And we
are in darkness," Simms said.

In Portland, another eastern parish prone to flooding, several roads
were already impassable, blocked by landslides and downed trees, and
flood waters were rising. With six inches to a foot of rain projected
across the mountainous island, and up to 20 inches in spots, flash
floods and mudslides remained a threat. "We are just recovering from the
effects of heavy rains a few weeks ago, and here comes Sandy," said
Rackell Wilson, a nurse who lives in the area.

FLOODS IN HAITI

In Haiti, Sandy's rain-laden outer bands triggered extensive flooding.
Rivers were rising across the country. Farms were under water in Ille a
Vache, a small island off the southwestern tip of Haiti. Homes were
flooded in the fishing village of Tiburon and in the southwestern city
of Les Cayes, where 50 patients were evacuated from a hospital along
with 200 residents in a seaside settlement.

One woman was reported killed in the southern town of Camp Perin as she
crossed a rising river, said Edgard Celestin, spokesman for the Office
of Civil Protection.

Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste, director of the Office of Civil Protection,
urged residents to stay away from rivers "to prevent any additional deaths."

S. FLORIDA IMPACT

The South Florida Water Management District was preparing for heavy
rains and potential flooding, although no repeat of the deluge from
Tropical Storm Isaac was expected. Southeast Florida already has
received near-record amounts of rain this year.

Robert Molleda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's
Miami office, said storms could produce between one and three inches of
rain — but probably not across the entire region. "It's going to be a
close call whether any substantial rain bands do make it on shore," he said.

At the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, no evacuations were
planned but sirens wailed across the base warning of coming dangerous
winds. Guards moved some prisoners from a wood hut to a steel and cement
building.

Sailors made preparations while an Army colonel went forward with a
pretrial hearing in the death-penalty case against Abd al Rahim al
Nashiri, 47, accused of masterminding al-Qaida's October 2000 suicide
bombing in Yemen of the USS Cole.

Once it clears the Bahamas late Friday, Sandy's future is less certain.
Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the hurricane center, said computer
models remain split on whether it will turn harmlessly out into the
Atlantic Ocean or curve west toward the Northeast Coast as a
still-powerful but nameless "extra-tropical'' storm.

Miami Herald staff writer Curtis Morgan contributed to this report from
Miami. Carol Rosenberg reported from Guantá namo ; staff writer
Jacqueline Charles reported from Port -au-Prince. Correspondent Daraine
Luton reported from Kingston. Staff writer Michael Vasquez also contributed.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/25/v-fullstory/3065042/sandy-now-a-hurricane-nears-jamaica.html