Premier: Matthew serves as warning to be prepared
Hurricane Matthew 5pm Monday 3 October 2016
(CNS): As Hurricane Matthew rolled toward Jamaica and Haiti Monday afternoon, Premier Alden McLaughlin said he wanted to remind all residents that no one can afford to be complacent in hurricane season. Although the category 4 hurricane is expected to pass more than 340 miles to the east of the Cayman Islands Tuesday, the premier said Matthew shows how storms can blow up quickly and intensify in a matter of hours. “Such storms are often erratic and may not follow their projected paths,” he said. “We cannot let such situations catch us unawares and we must always be prepared.”
In a statement released from his office, the premier said that while Cayman may be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief that the islands will be spared the wrath of Hurricane Matthew, regional neighbours were bracing for the storm’s impact. He urged everyone to take Matthew as a warning and have a hurricane plan in place, make the necessary preparations around their homes and businesses, and stock up on hurricane supplies.
“Being prepared can mean the difference between life and death in extreme weather situations,” he said. “We will watch Hurricane Matthew over the course of tonight and the next few days, praying for the safety of everyone in the storm’s way.”
At 5pm on Monday evening the National Hurricane Center was warning of the expected life-threatening rain, wind and storm surge in Haiti tonight as Hurricane Matthew moved north at less than 7mph. Maximum sustained winds remain near 140mph and tropical storm conditions were already impacting Jamaica throughout Monday.
Cayman Airways Limited said Monday evening that due to the projected path of Hurricane Matthew, the airline would be waiving change fees for those passengers who wish to cancel their flight reservations for travel to or from the Sister Islands and to or from Jamaica.
CAL has also added an extra flight from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay and Kingston on Sunday 2 October to assist those needing to travel to or from Jamaica prior to the projected arrival of the hurricane.
More details are on the Cayman airways website here
Category: Local News
Does anyone at CNS have a relative that works for the Port Authority? Just wondering why comments with any criticism of that department are barred? That department is doing a substandard job, at best in regards to cruise ship updates.
CNS: No, we don’t have any connection to anyone at the Port Authority and there have been many comments about the PA, some very critical. If a comment was deleted it would have been for a very good reason. The knee-jerk reaction is very often to claim CNS biased instead of thinking about it a bit more.
Fair enough, I have always held CNS in high regards for your honesty and fearlessness.
Still no accurate info from the Port Authority. Apparently we had two invisible ships here on Monday. Wish I got paid for not doing my job.
There is a storm coming the Premier and PPMs way as well, forecast by HSM. Wonder how well prepared he is for that. Acting more like an ostrich than a boy scout.
I wonder if the Premier thought about the words he’s saying in this article , when he was letting the Islands be developed . I’m sad to say that I think that Cayman is more vonerable to be devastated by hurricane today , than it was before .
Yes Aldon we cannot all afford to have the government provide shutters for our private homes and our private financial backers who provide Big generators to ride out whatever type of storms that may come our way. Cayman its time to remove this bogus government from power so when those minions who are now running around neighborhoods now with political speeches and their deceptive propaganda ask them exactly what they got other than the christmas turkey dinner??? Then let your baddest dog loose in your yard to show them exactly what you think of them.
So the story was published on October 3rd and it mentions that CAL has added an extra flight on October 2nd??? That flight already happened on Sunday!
Nah, god just spared our lives again. Pray Matthew away, pray the gay away.