Tropical Storm Watch for the Cayman Islands

Tropical Storm Watch for the Cayman Islands

Cayman's National Hurricane Committee (NHC) working with Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) declared a Tropical Storm Watch for the Cayman Islands at 10 o'clock this morning Sunday, 2 September 2007.

The declaration of the Watch means that tropical storm conditions could begin affecting Grand Cayman within 36 hours. Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are not included in the Tropical Storm Watch.

Dr. Barbara Carby, director of the recently formed Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HCMI) said, "Many residents will remember that hurricanes Mitch, Wilma and Michelle passed far from the island yet tropical storm force winds, waves and storm surge damaged coastal areas. We would like residents on the south and west coasts to take precautions."

A Tropical Storm Watch means that Grand Cayman may experience tropical storm conditions within the next 36 - 48 hours. The local Met Office's TAOS model is also forecasting 1 to 3 foot storm surge, 4 to 6 foot waves and 1 - 3 inches of rainfall for Grand Cayman. Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are not included in the Tropical Storm Watch.

The NHC and the HMCI will be monitoring Felix closely with the next official update scheduled for 6pm today. The DOT will quickly pass this information along to you our tourism partners, along with any specific tourism related news or important information.

The NHC did not issue an earlier advisory and therefore DOT was not able to issue a 9am update as previously planned. We are also working aggressively with the respective agencies to speed up the turnaround time and ensure we get information to you within an hour of the weather updates.

In the meantime, for more information, tune in to the local news media.

ENDS

Note - HMCI was developed since Hurricane Ivan and it is the Government agency responsible for the country's preparedness, response and mitigation programmes for all hazards. Overtime, it is expected that hurricane preparedness, response and mitigation will be coordinated by HMCI thereby replacing the National Hurricane Committee. However, for the 2007 Hurricane Season, the NHC remains in place and functioning as the central coordinating arm of the Government.

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