Jamaica residents prepare Hurricane Matthew

Record ID: 83421

  • Title: Jamaica residents prepare Hurricane Matthew
  • Date: 1st October 2016
  • Summary: KINGSTON, JAMAICA (OCTOBER 1, 2016) (REUTERS - BROADCASTERS: NONE DIGITAL: NONE) PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE OF GROCERY STORE MAN CARRYING LARGE BOTTLES OF WATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING: "I'm preparing. I'm shopping at a super-market to ensure that my house is properly prepared, because I have to go to work and leave my family." (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING: "This morning we went and got some ply boards to do the windows and stuff because I'm from the east and because of the windows we have to get plywood to kind of button up, water, dry goods, lanterns, kerosene oil, the whole works. So I'm very much preparing. But I live near the (inaudible) side so I have to be prepared in every way possible. The last time the bridge was washed away so even after the storm we couldn't get back here for a couple of days so we have to prepare for aftermath as well. So, yes, I am preparing." VARIOUS SHOTS OF FOODS RESIDENTS HAVE GATHERED IN SHOPPING CARTS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING IN LINE VARIOUS OF CHECK OUT COUNTER VARIOUS OF OCEAN FRONT VARIOUS OF BOATS AT SEA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANGELA BROWN BURKE, MAYOR OF KINGSTON, SAYING: "Someone said to me last night, we told them there was a storm last time and there was no storm. What's going to be different. I want persons to understand that last time was a storm. We're talking about a hurricane, at category 5, 400 mile off the coast of Kingston, and so it's not something to be taken lightly. So we want to be prepared." WATERWAY PAN OF GAS STATION VARIOUS OF GAS STATION WITH RESIDENTS FILLING GAS TANKS
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2016 19:08
  • Keywords: Hurricane Matthew preparations Jamaica Cuba
  • Location: KINGSTON, JAMAICA
  • City: KINGSTON, JAMAICA
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA001526AKHZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: NOTE: VIDEO AND AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Hurricane Matthew weakened slightly on Saturday (October 1) as it headed towards Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba, but with winds reaching 145 miles per hour (230 kph), locals braced for the arrival of a storm forecasters warned was powerful enough to wreck homes.
    Matthew, the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix in 2007, was forecast to make landfall as a major storm on Monday on Jamaica's southern coast, home to the country's capital, Kingston, and its only oil refinery. Kingston's mayor Angela Brown Burke urged residents not to take the situation lightly.
    "Someone said to me last night, we told them there was a storm last time and there was no storm. What's going to be different? I want persons to understand that last time was a storm. We're talking about a hurricane," said Burke. "So it's not something to be taken lightly".
    With Matthew about 390 miles (625 km) southeast of Kingston, the U.S. National Hurricane Center ranked it at Category 4 of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. Earlier it had been ranked at the top Category 5.
    The Jamaican capital got a preview of what might be in store when the road to the airport temporarily flooded due to unusually high tides. Rain fell and authorities told fishermen to moor in safe harbor until the storm had passed.
    Jamaica was hard hit by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Matthew could be the most powerful storm to cross the island since records began, meteorologist Eric Holthaus said on Twitter.
    "The last time the bridge was washed away, so even after the storm we couldn't get back here for a couple of days. So, we have to prepare for aftermath as well," said one resident who was stocking up on water and dried goods at a busy grocery store.
    Disaster coordinators, police and troops are on high alert and shelters are being opened across the island, said Robert Morgan, director of communications at the prime minister's office, which hosted an emergency meeting to plan for the storm on Friday.
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