JAMAICA FACES a direct threat from another tropical storm, Emily, and could begin to feel its effects as early as Saturday if the storm continues on its current track.
A satellite tracking map produced by the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, puts Emily, which is expected to develop into a hurricane by today, directly over the island by 2:00 p.m. Saturday, based on the current projected path. At 4: 00 p.m. yesterday, the centre of Emily was located near Latitude 11.1 degrees north and Longitude 52.8 degrees west or about 765 kilometres east-southeast of Barbados. Maximum sustained winds were near 85 km/h with higher gusts.
PROJECTED TRACK
The National Meteorological Centre yesterday warned that "since the projected track places Jamaica within the scope of Emily's path on Saturday, all interests are advised to pay special attention to subsequent news releases from the Meteorological Service."
Already, the governments of Trinidad, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia have issued tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches for the respective islands as the tropical cyclone travels towards the west near 20 miles per hour. Emily, the fifth named storm since the start of a busy hurricane season on June 1, is expected to reach the Windward Islands late today.
News that the island may be affected by another hurricane comes just days after a near miss by Hurricane Dennis, which veered off the north-eastern coast of Jamaica last Thursday but not before dumping rains that flooded several communities and displacing several hundred persons mainly in the north-eastern section of the island. The news offers little hope for those affected during Hurricane Dennis as many are yet to recover their belongings from the rubble, including those who were affected by Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago.
The Government has so far not been able to give an estimate of the damage done to the country by Hurricane Dennis, as the various agencies are still in the field conducting assessments.
