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Sandy now a category 1 hurricane as it hits Jamaica
Projected path of Hurricane Sandy. IMAGE/U.S. National Hurricane Center
Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall Wednesday near the country’s most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida.
The country’s international airports closed, cruise ships changed their itineraries and police ordered 48-hour curfews in major towns to keep people off the streets and deter looting as the late-season storm neared Jamaica’s south coast. Police slowly drove through drenched communities in the capital of Kingston with their cruisers’ lights flashing.
The 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was forecast to make landfall in the vicinity of Kingston Wednesday afternoon and then spin on into eastern Cuba overnight.
Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said tropical storm conditions were possible along the southeast Florida coast, the Upper Keys and Florida Bay by Friday morning. A tropical storm watch also may be required for parts of east-central Florida later Wednesday morning, the centre said.
Across Jamaica, people were jittery about Sandy’s approach.
While Jamaica was ravaged by bands from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and other powerful hurricanes centered offshore, the eye of a hurricane has not carved across the island since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, according to Jamaican meteorologist Jacqueline Spence.
As a light rain fell from slate grey skies on Wednesday morning, Kingston resident Andre Howt tried to finish repairs to a neighbor’s roof that leaks badly even during a common rain storm. Steady drips from the concrete ceiling were filling plastic buckets.
