I awoke this morning about 4:20 a.m. from a particularly loud gust rattling the upstairs shutters and was very pleased to find that we did not lose power or water as the storm passed. Gustav is now about 60 miles to the west northwest of us and moving away at a 12 mph clip. We continue to get tropical storm force winds and probably will for a couple of more hours. The news reports say the sister islands got winds between 80 and 100 miles an hour. It appears our winds maxed out at 55 mph and right now they are gusting in the 30-40 mph level, just a gentle Caribbean breeze right. Though it is raining now, we have actually gotten very little rainfall and it bears repeating that we were south of the storm and not in that upper right quadrant where most of the intensity would be. There has been some flooding of low lying areas including parts of Cayman Kai and North Sound Estates which is right across from the college. We also hear that the gully which runs from the southern coast up through Newlands has flooded some houses though that happens anytime there is any kind of a storm. Will find out later today if the college had any flooding and how the roof there did. Our place has had no issues at all.The difference in sounds between our downstairs and upstairs is dramatic and has probably affected how we felt in terms of nerves and how we reacted to this storm in comparison to Dean last year. Last year we rode out the storm upstairs with no TV and no television background noise, hearing nothing except the winds gusting outside the plywood. This year we were downstairs for the most part and had the TV on pretty constantly. When we went to bed at 11 you could really hear the gusts upstairs which was in stark contrast to what we had just experienced downstairs where they were muted and drowned out by the TV.
The AP report from George Town says a curfew was never imposed and one of the local papers, the Cayman Net News, says on their web site that as of 9 p.m. last night no curfew but police were encouraging people to stay in their homes. Not that we have any intention of going outside anyway. Grand Cayman was definitely spared all but a very glancing blow and for that we are very grateful. Will know more in a couple of hours when we can go outside and walk around. There was a surge so the beaches will be full of rocks and who knows how south sound was affected as it is particularly vulnerable to surge flooding and damage. Our biggest concern now will be getting the car back and hoping that he hasn't been blocked in by other vehicles parking under us on the roundabout. That is the one bad thing about the roundabout solution to the car, you are stuck there until all the people who come after you and block you in come to get their cars. Fortunately we parked there yesterday after most of the people who would have left the Island were already gone so we should not be stuck there long. Last year after Dean cars were still on the tops of the roundabouts 4 and 5 days after the storm as people tried to get back on Island that had been evacuated.
As the storm is moving away it is gaining strength and we should all keep the people of the Isle of Pines and western Cuba in our prayers. Finally, lets also hope that the storm does not make landfall in a very populated area of the gulf coast as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana and Texas. We will be thinking good thoughts and saying prayers for the parents and family of Brent the husband of Scott's sister Johanna who live in Slidell, Louisiana which is outside New Orleans.
Heading back to sleep for a while, will update later and take some pictures of the Island to let you see the aftermath.
