Kingston, Jamaica – Hurricane Emily churned toward Jamaica with 140 mph winds today, regaining Category 4 strength after ravaging Grenada. Mexico began preparations to evacuate tourists from the Yucatan peninsula.
The second major hurricane of the Atlantic season was about 215 miles from Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, and becoming better organized, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving west-northwest at nearly 18 mph on a path that would take it close to southern Jamaica today.
Emily is expected to hit the Mexican coast by Sunday, possibly somewhere near Cancun. From there it could cross over the Yucatan peninsula, travel across the Gulf and hit land again somewhere near the U.S. border with Mexico, according to the hurricane center.
Mexican officials began preparations to evacuate tourists from much of the country’s Caribbean coast, including Cancun and the island resorts of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres.
In Jamaica, where evacuations of coastal areas were under way since Friday, people rushed to stock up on water, canned food and batteries for the second time this month.
Emily trails Hurricane Dennis, which killed at least 25 people in Haiti and 16 in Cuba last week. Thousands of Jamaicans who had refused to leave their homes were stranded by floods.
“I’m hoping that those who are in these areas will heed the call to evacuate before it’s too late,” Transport and Works
Minister Robert Pickersgill said on RJR radio.
Grenada still recovering from the devastation of last year’s Hurricane Ivan declared a national disaster Friday, a day after Emily’s winds tore up at least 100 homes, destroyed crops, and flooded scores of buildings. At least one person was killed in Grenada, a man whose home was buried under a landslide.
Emily’s winds had decreased to about 115 mph Friday evening after reaching a high of 135 mph earlier in the day. But it
regained its old strength a few hours later, making it once again what U.S. meteorologist Stacy Stewart called a “very rare Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean Sea in the month of July.”
Heavy rains drenched southeast Dominican Republic and officials warned boatmen there to stay in port, saying that coastline could expect waves higher than 10 feet.
In Grand Cayman, Texan Carolyn Parker, said she was more apprehensive than she’s ever been in 20 years as a resident of the Cayman Islands.
“Ivan was pretty nasty, and I’m scared to go through that again.” said the retired police officer.
The eye of the storm was projected to come within 40 miles of Grand Cayman on Sunday.
Last year, three catastrophic hurricanes – Frances, Ivan and Jeanne – tore through the Caribbean with a collective ferocity not seen in years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
Emily struck hard in Grenada, especially in the north and in the outlying islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique, where residents were without electricity and water, authorities said.
The damage came as the island nation still was recovering from Ivan, which last year killed 39 people, left a wasteland of ruined buildings and damaged 90 percent of the historic Georgian buildings in the capital, St. George’s.
In Trinidad, widespread flooding triggered landslides that cut off the only access road to two east coast communities, marooning hundreds of residents, Mayor Eustace Nancis said.
The hurricane brought heavy rains and flooding to Venezuela, and forced 64 families out of homes when rivers overflowed their banks, a government official said Friday. As the storm moved away, the government lifted restrictions on maritime travel that had grounded oil tankers in the world’s fifth largest oil exporter.
The Organization of American States called an emergency meeting o its disaster committee Friday, expressing concern at the prospect of a “severe economic setback” to countries hit by hurricanes, especially Grenada.
Forecasters have predicted up to 15 Atlantic tropical storms this year, including three to five major hurricanes. The hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.
