Tropical Storm Paloma became Hurricane Paloma at 7pm Thursday night and picked up some forward speed and is now expected to impact Grand Cayman by Friday.
Customers queue to buy gasoline at an Esso station in George Town, Grand Cayman. Photo: Justin Uzzell. |
As of 10pm Thursday, Paloma was located about 150 miles south-southwest of Grand Cayman and was moving north at 8 mph. The National Hurricane Center forecast the centre of the storm would cross over or very near Grand Cayman tomorrow evening or very early Saturday morning. Tropical storm force winds extend up to 70 miles from centre, but hurricane force winds only extended 15 miles from centre.
Paloma had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as of 10pm Thursday, making it a Category 1 hurricane. However the storm is expected to strengthen to a strong Category 2 hurricane by Friday.
In additional to its increase in speed, Paloma changed its general movement on Thursday. The storm was supposed to move north-northwest through Thursday evening or Friday morning and then turn to the northeast. Instead, Paloma started moving basically due north from Thursday afternoon, allowing it to cut the distance between itself and Grand Cayman more rapidly.
In response to the faster moving storm, the Cayman Islands Government issued a Hurricane Warning at 4pm, just six hours after it issued its first Hurricane Watch. A Hurricane Warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.
People on Grand Cayman scrambled to prepare for the storm. Cars waited in lines 15-20 vehicles long outside some George Town gas stations. Stations had to be re-supplied with fuel from tankers Thursday afternoon into the evening as they ran out of gasoline.
Although a steady rain was falling Thursday night, weather conditions from West Bay to George Town were not keeping residents off the roads.
At 7.30pm, traffic heading into West Bay was backed up from the four-way stop to Public Beach and cars headed into George Town along West Bay Road were literally at a stand still outside Foster’s Food Fair on the Strand.
Lines at cash machines were also long, but most ATM’s still appeared to have cash on hand though some had started running out of receipt paper.
The Cayman Islands Airport Authority announced it would close Owen Roberts International Airport at 10:30 am Friday. Cayman Airways flew additional flights from Thursday night through Friday morning, with the last one schedule to leave at 10:15. American Airlines and Delta both added extra flights in the morning.
The faster approaching storm also caused government to announce it was closing all government offices on Friday; it had originally said they would be closed later.
Cayman Free Press reporter Brent Fuller contributed to this story.
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