Paloma strengthened to a hurricane with winds near 121kph on Thursday as it churned toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba.
Forecasters say the storm is expected to continue strengthening as it moves north and could become a major Category 3 hurricane by today as it approaches Cuba.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the Cayman Islands, where the storm could dump up to 20cm of rain, said the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Paloma may make landfall in Cuba over the weekend, and Jamaica was warned to also monitor its progress, the center said.
AIRPORT CLOSED
The Cayman Islands planned to close its main airport yesterday morning, although no mandatory evacuation will be issued, Tourism Minister Charles Clifford said.
“I hope I’m right, but I don’t think this will be a major event,” he said.
Extra flights had been added as of Thursday night for those wishing to leave, and American Airlines and Delta planned to fly in larger aircraft as well. Guests who remain on the island will be moved to higher floors in anticipation of flooding, he said.
Jack Nelson, 75, of Salisbury, Maryland, arrived a week ago with his wife. The couple decided to stay on the island until today as planned because Nelson said a Category 1 hurricane was not something to fear, especially at the hotel where they were staying.
“I think it is very safe and it could take a Category 4 or 5,” he said.
The Cayman Islands’ top elected official, Kurt Tibbetts, urged residents not to wait until the last minute to prepare for the storm.
NO COMPLACENCY
“History has taught us that we cannot afford complacency during hurricane season, for conditions can rapidly deteriorate,” he said.
Grocery stores reported brisk business on Thursday, and some people had started to board up their windows.
Dozens of cars snaked in lines around gas stations, with residents recalling how they were left without gas during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Officials toured low-lying regions, concerned that the onslaught of recent rains could lead to quicker flooding.
As a tropical storm earlier on Thursday, Paloma dumped rain on the remote Nicaragua-Honduras border.
On Thursday evening, Paloma was located about 240km southwest of Grand Cayman and moving north at 13kph. A gradual turn to the northeast was expected late yesterday.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
RSS