For the latest information on Hurricane Rafael, visit Storm Centre.
Little Cayman was left reeling after the passage of Hurricane Rafael, which sank boats, downed power lines and trees, and left the roads of the island covered in sand and debris.
Fourteen hours after the eye of the storm passed over the island, the all-clear was finally declared at 11am Wednesday. It had been issued for Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac earlier.
Despite the all-clear, officials are warning residents “to remain mindful of potential hazards like fallen debris and downed power lines in roadways”.
Marine and coastal warnings remain in effect and the public is being urged to avoid coastlines where possible.
Flights unable to land
Sister Islands Tourism Association president Peter Quilliam told the Compass that, although the Edward Bodden Airfield – the island’s airport – has reopened, the weather remained too rough for the Cayman Airways Twin Otter aircraft to fly in on Wednesday.
“The weather is still too bad to get here,” he said, adding that there are many people trying to get off the island, but they have no choice now but to stay there until the aircraft is able to land.
People booked on flights Wednesday afternoon on board the Cayman Airways Twin Otter, including utility recovery teams, were rebooked to Thursday.
Cayman Airways, in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, said it had been forced to cancel multiple recovery and evacuation flights it had scheduled for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman because of “persistent inclement weather”.
Those flights have been rescheduled for Thursday, the airline confirmed.
It said the regular Cayman Airways Express schedule is expected to resume as of Thursday, pending weather conditions. The regular jet schedule resumed on Wednesday, it added.
“Cayman Airways remains committed to the recovery efforts of our islands following the passage of Hurricane Rafael, and to ensuring that evacuees and other travellers reach their destinations safely,” an airline spokesperson said.
Power restoration work
Little Cayman, which lost power as the storm neared, was still without electricity for much of Wednesday.
In an update on the situation at 8:50pm, Island Energy, which supplies power to the Sister Islands, said, “Thanks to the extraordinary efforts and hard work of our team in Little Cayman, power has been rerouted and is now powering from the plant through the North Coast and all the way round, including the airport, Hungry Iguana, Paradise Villas and the Village Square store and apartments.”
It noted that some customers, however, remained without power overnight, but the arrival of a CUC team to assist would mean the restoration process could be completed.
In an earlier post on its social media pages, the company said there had been “significant damage” to the transmission system, and it may take several hours and days to fully restore.
CUC had planned to send a team to assist Island Energy, once flights into Little Cayman resumed on Wednesday, but since conditions made it unsafe for aircraft to land, they now plan to leave on Thursday.
Richard Hew, president of CUC, told the Compass earlier, “We have been in contact with Island Energy and they have expressed that assistance is needed on Little Cayman at this time. We have deployed a team to provide assistance with assessment and restoration.”
Home Gas said that two service technicians would be over on the first available flight on Thursday “as a precaution”. They are offering free safety checks for anyone on Little Cayman. To book, residents should call 949-7474.
Tourist evacuations
Tourists, who had sat out the storm during the night, are expected to be evacuated from the island as soon as flights become available.
Marzeta Bodden of the Department of Tourism confirmed there were 112 visitors on the island Wednesday. She said efforts were being made to coordinate their evacuation from the island and to organise alternative accommodation on Grand Cayman for those who were planning to remain in the Cayman Islands.
On Wednesday afternoon, Compass reporters noted a busy departure lounge at Owen Roberts as tourists who had had to delay onward travel from Grand Cayman as a result of the storm were finally able to leave.
Damage assessment teams have begun work on Little Cayman and also on Cayman Brac, which was also impacted, but to a lesser degree.
Fences and gates, as well as trees and power poles, across the island were blown down in the storm, which hit Little Cayman as a Category 1 hurricane.
The Southern Cross Club has told the Compass that there has been “quite a lot of damage” to the resort.
One of its boats, named the Lucky Lady, broke from its mooring during the sea surge in the storm and was washed ashore onto a beach.
Two dive boats belonging to Reef Divers were partially submerged in the high seas brought by Rafael.
Rafael, now a Category 3 storm, is bearing down on Cuba, where it is expected to move near or just east of the Isle of Youth Wednesday afternoon, and make landfall in western Cuba later in the day.
No reports of casualties
Danielle Coleman, director of Hazard Management Cayman Islands, said in a 7am update that downed power lines and debris on the roads had been reported in Little Cayman, but “nothing critical” had been seen in initial damage assessments.
She said there had been no reports of casualties.
Mark Codling, a hazard mitigation specialist with Hazard Management, told the Compass shortly after midday that information on the damage wrought to the islands was still being assessed, but said most of the recovery efforts would be made in Little Cayman, where the impact had been “much more significant”.
“Most of the crews are being deployed to Little Cayman,” he said
The island was being examined from the air by the police helicopter, as well as by those who were already on the ground on Little Cayman, he added.
Codling said checks of the airfield and runway were being made to ensure it was safe for aircraft.
Cayman Airways flights
Cayman Airways has announced that, with the ‘all clear’ now issued, based on those islands’ airports’ reopening times, there would be some changes to its international jet service scheduled for Wednesday. But weather continued to impact the updated schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
Its KX600 flight departed Grand Cayman at 10am and arrived in Kingston at 11:10am. KX601 departed Kingston at 12:10pm and arrived back on Grand Cayman at 1:25pm.
All other jet flights scheduled for Wednesday are expected to operate as scheduled, pending weather conditions, including for La Ceiba, New York, and Miami, the airline said.
An additional jet service flight to and from the Brac has been added. KX3405 will depart Grand Cayman at 2:25pm and arrive on Cayman Brac at 3:05pm. Then, KX3406 will leave Cayman Brac at 4:05pm and arrive on Grand Cayman at 4:45pm.
The airline noted that all Cayman Airways Express flights for Cayman Brac on Wednesday had been cancelled. Affected passengers have been re-accommodated on the jet service, it said.
Related Videos
