Aug 31 2010
Hurricane Earl Scrapes Caribbean and Heads for East Coast of USA
The East Coast of California, also known as The BVI (British Virgin Islands) got a rough hurricane season wake-up call, yesterday and last night. Hurricane Earl quickly powered up from a Category 2 hurricane as it passed East of Antigua, to a Category 4 hurricane as it came perilously close to Anegada.
With very little time to prepare, many residents and visitors to that part of the Caribbean were caught off guard and unprepared. Now, the US East Coast has anywhere from 2-4 days to make preparations and they would do well to go through the exercise.
Radar showing BVI & Anguilla inside the eyewall of Earl @ approx 5pm EST 8/30
With two planned flotillas ( BVI and Antigua) for SailTime Members coming up in November, we have more than a passing interest in how our favorite places on the planet fared. So far, today, I have only been able to get spotty info and with the power grid in disarray on Tortola, it may be a few more days before we have all the facts. But with this storm looking like it could make quite a stir over the Labor Day national holiday in the US, thought it would be good to get this out sooner than later.
On Antigua, Earl caused some flooding and road damage. But it appears the island fared better than its last brush with Hurricane Omar in 2008. Omar caused a ruckus in mid October of that year when we had a large flotilla of the BVI just a few weeks later.
Sopers Hole after Hurricane Earl
Earl reports from the BVI are still coming in as the island cleans up today. As expected, from a close call with a Category 4 hurricane, there is lots of tree damage in the hills and around the settlements. But I have heard radio reports that government leaped into action this morning to get public works in order as quickly as possible.
Most of my news is coming from the correspondents found at StormCarib – which has turned out to be a valuable resource for people with interests throughout the Caribbean region. As always, Dr Masters at Wunderground provides valuable insights during all worldwide weather situations. The prognosticator at CaribWX had the storm track nailed before many of the computer models did. He is sometimes late in reporting to us, freeloaders, as he earns his keep with contracted weather routing services for mariners. Lastly, ZBVI radio in Tortola, has provided more insights when they have been able to transmit via the internet. With these tools, one is able to keep pretty good track of what is going on and ultimately what has happened. Mainstream news does a pretty poor job of reporting this type of stuff because, I guess, they feel there aren’t many people with a high enough level of interest to warrant a very high level of reporting.
Earl’s windpath as of 5pm EST 8/31
None of what I have heard can be substantiated but here goes:
Anegada took the brunt of the storm where the eye passed 30 miles to the East, which means they got the highest winds in the region from the eyewall of the storm. Reports of the pier and seawall being shredded and flooding throughout the island of 200 inhabitants. It is the worst storm to hit the island since Donna of 1960. The North Sound of Virgin Gorda was also very close to this eyewall but damages sound less from our contact at BEYC. Apparently, the surge from the storm clobbered the North side of Tortola which is home to Cane Garden Bay. Destruction of varying degrees has been reported in Sopers Hole as well, where many boats were anchored, docked and moored. It is rumored the Bomba’s Shack was blown away! No word about our favorite places on Jost Van Dyke. Minor damage is reported in Roadtown and Nanny Cay.
The dingy dock at Cane Garden Bay during the storm
So, it looks like our beloved BVI was spared from any real crippling damage that could hamper our November plans. I have not heard of any deaths either! Whew! It’s too soon to call out the “all clear” though. “Fiona” will pass by tomorrow with tropical storm force and it appears “Gaston” could be named in the next day or so in what has been predicted to be a busy hurricane season which traditionally ends in Mid-November.
5 day projection of Earl’s path as of 5pm EDT 8/31/10
I will update this report if I hear anything more significant to add to this report.
Has the USGS been notified that California now has an eastern coast ?
Must we involve the guvmint in this arbitrary border Wayne?