Greetings from Hurrucane country! Here is an update for Monday, August 20, 6:00 am Cayman time.
First off, I should say I am surprised to be able to post this update, because posting means that we still have power. They shut the power here as the storm gets close, so that if power lines go down they are not live lines. They shut the water off at 9pm last night, so I am surprised they haven’t pulled the plug on electricity yet.
Dean is just starting to hit us here. I first started to hear the strong winds outside at around 4:30am. By 5:00am, the winds were loud enough that Andrea and I got out of bed to go see what we could see. Our timing was good, because a few minutes after we got up the winds started to force the rain through the wood in our ceiling. We’ve had a bunch of leaks, but nothing too major yet (knock on wood). Every 20 minutes or so the leaks come and then go, as the storm spirals around. When we hear the wind start to pick up, we scramble to put pots and buckets under them as soon as they appear. I am writing this during a lull, but I’m expecting to dart off in a few minutes to play the bucket game again.
But I really can’t complain — we are doing fine down here, and it looks like the real force of the storm is going to miss us. We are on the most northern part of the island, and the eye of the storm and the real hurricane force winds will pass to the south of Grand Cayman. Even the southern part of the island will be spared the worst of what was projected, but we will be better off up here than they are down in the Georgetown area.
I hear the winds picking up, so it’s off to play the bucket game. Hopefully Dean moves past us soon, power will stay on, and I’ll be able to post another update saying that we’re all clear!
Keep an eye on the weather channel and root for Dean to stay south and to keep moving quickly!