The Cayman Islands remained under a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch Monday because weather watchers aren’t sure what Tropical Storm Wilma is going to do.
The outer edge of Wilma – the record-tying 21st named system of the season – neared Cayman Monday, but the skies were mostly clear and rough weather wasn’t expected until after nightfall.
Schools and businesses were open but authorities urged people to be alert as the storm moved closer to the island chain, which was badly damaged in Hurricane Ivan last year.
“We’re waiting with bated breath to see what will happen,” said Brent Santha a vice president at the water company. “We’re hoping and praying it will change direction.”
At 10am the centre of Tropical Storm Wilma was located near 16.3 N 80.0 W or 220 miles south-southeast of Grand Cayman and about 230 miles east-northeast of the Nicaragua-Honduras border. Wilma was moving southwest at five mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
The slow moving system is becoming better organized and is expected to become a hurricane this evening when the storm is expected to pass 200 miles south-southwest of Satellite pictures show heavy convection concentrated near the centre of the storm and over and to the east of Jamaica this morning.
The Cayman Islands can expect partly cloudy skies becoming cloudy at times with occasional outbreaks of showers and some thunder. Shower activity will be gradually increasing today with models forecasting totals of around one inch per 24 hour period.
Grand Cayman will experience east to southeast winds today at 15 to 20 knots with wave heights 5 to 7 feet. Higher gusts area expected, especially in and around showers. Moderate to rough seas are expected across the area.
A hurricane watch was posted for the Caymans while Honduras posted a tropical storm warning.
Wilma is the 21st named storm of the season, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The only other time that as many storms formed since record keeping began 154 years ago was in 1933.
The storm was expected to bring heavy rain in the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, with as much as 12 inches possible in some areas, forecasters said.
Tootie Eldemire, owner of the Eldemire Guest House on Grand Cayman, said she stocked up on water, candles, flashlights and canned goods for her guests but said she wasn’t worried about the storm.
“We’re on alert but we’re not panicking,” Eldemire said, adding that tourists were moving around town as usual.
“They’re on the beach, all over town. There’s no change of anything,” she said. “There doesn’t seem to be too much concern. When they see weather like this, sunny with a light breeze blowing, it’s hard to envision things getting too bad.”
Many islanders still had storm shutters up from last year’s Hurricane Ivan, which destroyed 70 percent of buildings on Grand Cayman, the largest island in the three-island British territory of 45,000 people.
Boat owners pulled their vessels into canals and tied them up to prevent them from being tossed by heavy surf and wind.
Long-term forecasts show the storm heading into the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend. Forecasters said high water temperatures and other conditions were favorable for it to become a significant hurricane.
U.S. hurricane center specialist Stacy Stewart said Wilma had shifted west of its previous path and could hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. “At this time it doesn’t appear it will be a major threat to the United States during the next five days,” Stewart said.
But Wilma is then expected to re-emerge into the Gulf and could become a threat to the southern U.S.
The Atlantic hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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