The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) is set to be fully activated on Sunday afternoon in advance of the arrival of Tropical Storm Ian, which is expected to reach hurricane status before nearing Grand Cayman on Sunday night.
On Saturday, government upgraded Grand Cayman from a Hurricane Watch to a Hurricane Warning, and lowered Cayman Brac and Little Cayman’s Hurricane Watch to Tropical Storm Warning.
On its current forecast track, the storm center is expected to be 68 miles south west of Grand Cayman. However, Hazard Management Cayman Islands Director Danielle Coleman said, at this stage, there is no official word on whether a curfew or shutter-in order will be issued.
The onset of tropical storm force winds for Grand Cayman is expected to commence Sunday night, intensifying Monday Sept., 26 around 1am.
“We’re strongly encouraging everyone to be at home tomorrow [Sunday] afternoon at 6pm… Even before these [tropical storm force] winds come into force we’re going to see a lot of rain, so the roads will be very wet,” said Coleman.
“We know that this at the time people do drive quite erratically. I’ve seen it this morning, I saw it yesterday [Friday.] There’s a lot more people on the roads, obviously trying to get the supermarkets and gas stations so forth.”
Manderson: ‘Look out for each other’
NEOC Chair and Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, in a statement on the change in status to a Hurricane Watch, stressed the need for preparation, saying that the NEOC is being briefed continually by National Weather Service and Hazard Management Cayman Islands.
“Even though the system is still a tropical storm, it is forecast to become a hurricane as it nears the Cayman Islands, and conditions for strengthening are more conducive. In our assessment, the impact of this system on our Islands could be unpredictable. I am therefore urging everyone to use the rest of today to complete your storm preparations if you have not done so already,” he said.
Manderson also urged the community to look after each other as preparation to hunker down begin.
“If you have not yet, please check on, and assist, vulnerable neighbours, family and friends. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to decide where you will ride out the storm,” he said.
‘Shelters will open from 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. We expect weather conditions across the Islands to start to worsen from tomorrow evening, so you must be ready to be off the roads and in your place of shelter. Preservation of life is the utmost concern of the Government.”
Consider shelters as an option
Coleman said starting Sunday at 2pm five shelters will open in Grand Cayman, each of which also serves as a designated Emergency Medical Centre.
The shelters are:
- Sir John A. Cumber Primary School
- John Gray High School (Pet friendly)
- Bodden Town Primary School
- Clifton Hunter High School (Pet friendly)
- East End Civic Centre
She said the option to open more shelters remains as the tracking of the storm continues.
Coleman urges residents to consider staying in shelters if their homes are vulnerable.
“For example [if] you’re in the coast and you have a one story house, you may want to consider going to the shelters. So it really is important to make that decision now as opposed to just before,” she said.
Coleman said the requirements for the shelters are listed online, and those with animals are asked to keep them in a cage.
The Cayman Islands Red Cross shelter will be open from 4pm on Sunday and the Aston Rutty Civic Centre in Cayman Brac will be open as an emergency shelter at 2pm on Sunday.
The Cayman Islands Humane Society has issued a call for volunteers for foster animals ahead of the arrival of the storm.
Shuttering of buildings on Grand Cayman and on the Sister Islands, she said, is ongoing Saturday, as well as the clearing of drains.
She said the HMCI is encouraging the community to download the emergency alert app through which updates will be issued.
She said all alerts, watches, warnings and the ‘all clear’ advisories will be issued through the notifications app.
“If by chance we get rapid intensification you will hear a very, very loud tone on your phone, assuming you’ve downloaded it, and that means that you have to act quickly because something dramatic has happened either…. it’s been rapid intensification of the storm, or there might be a simultaneous event that happened,” she said.
Coleman added that the mental health help line, 1-800-534-6463, will be open 24 hours over the next couple of days for anyone who needs that support.
Contingency plan triggered at Prisons
Prison officials have said they have activated their contingency plans with the recent issuing of a Hurricane Warning for Grand Cayman.
In a statement to the Compass Saturday afternoon Her Majesty’s Prison Service said contingency measures were implemented “to ensure the safety and security of our inmate community and staff as we prepare to endure and recover” from this weekend’s weather event.
It said in preparation for the 2022 Hurricane Season it had been regularly updating its Business and Continuity of Operations plan, “to ensure measures are in place in the event of a national weather emergency.”
“Our staff are trained to activate our Continuity of Operations Plan and are prepared to operate under the challenging conditions of a Tropical Storm or Hurricane. Emergency support response teams are available to respond to any form of emergency when it is safe for them to do so,” it added.
For the latest information on storm activity in the Cayman Islands, as well as information on how to prepare for hurricane season, visit Storm Centre.
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