Any news yet from Cayman Islands re Hurrricane?

[mecllap]

It's probably way to early to hear anything specific from CI about effects of Hurricane Paloma -- sounds like it might be a pretty direct hit on Grand Cayman. At least it's not as strong as Ivan -- hope everyone comes through it well and safely.

I'm checking on caycompass.com -- Georgetown newspaper. Looks like they're pretty well prepared; path is expected to be on the east side of Grand Cayman, and then heading on to the Sister Islands.

 

[Jbart74]

Yes. It looks like Morritts and The Reef might take another beating. I'm holding my breath for everyone there now as well as those of us soon to be on our way. Recent reports from Morritts guests have said that water is coming in under the doors on the ocean side and winds are currently very heavy. I'll keep you posted on what I hear from GCM.

 

[Gerie]

You might want to try the site below for updated info on Paloma. There are currently a few reports from today.

http://stormcarib.com/

This is an excellent site with on-island regulars from all Caribbean islands providing up to the minute reports during any weather event in the islands. I keep the site bookmarked and check it whenever a storm threatens.

 

[mecllap]

Thanks Gerie -- glad to know about that site -- very interesting and scary to read the reports, but so far, seems like folks are "weathering" the storm pretty okay. Sure hoping that's the case and everyone is fine, and there's little damage.

 

[x3 skier]

Here's the best site I have found for Hurricanes.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

Cheers

 

[TomCayman]

Report from theReef.

We remained open during the storm.

Winds were very high and drove rain from the E and NE right at our patio doors. We received some water through patio doors into a significant number of units.

We did ensure we had a large clean up crew staying on property through the storm to both mitigate damage during the passage and to be here to clean up afterwards.

In short, all but a very few of our rooms will be ready for guests checking in today as usual.

The beach (oddly enough) took a little less damage than Gustav a few months ago, so will be in good shape for guests by the end of today (we are cleaning it up as I write this).

As Paloma came at us very quickly, and had a lot of rain and some very high winds, many people in Cayman will have had wind driven rain get through windows and window frames.

At theReef, all but our newest building already have Hurricane Shutters installed, so that helped a bit, but in all honesty , old fashioned plywood does a better job of keeping rain out !

Anyway, we are open, Cayman airport is back open.. no problems.

Morritt.com is reporting they are closed for checkins this weekend, contact them for more information.

 

[dvc95]

I was there for the hurricane. They evacuated us to shelters, although some people stayed through it. The ocean front units (Tortuga--Grand was fine) sustained the worst damage. I talked to Dave, the maintenance guy, and he said they'd have them up and running in a week. The sheetrock fell down and he said, no worries, they'd done that repair before. David's had some water damage to the ceiling but it was still up and running.

Mostly it was just cosmetic, minor damage and the staff was all over it. Amazing how quickly they jumped on it and got things done. The pools were almost clear by Sunday. The one pool (smallest one) was up and running.

The prep work they did beforehand made all the difference.

Heidi

 

[mecllap]

The reports are that Grand Cayman had some minor damage here and there (lots of water on roads, trees and branches down, etc.) but not bad at all compared to the Sister Islands. Little Cayman not as bad as Cayman Brac, which suffered serious/major damage. The stormcarib.com website mentioned above has some helpful links for info, as well as caycompass.com -- the lcoal newspaper online.