October 24, 2012: Hurricane Sandy slams Jamaica near Kingston
Digital Reporter
Thursday, October 24, 2013, 6:20 AM -
RETRACING HURRICANE SANDY: Each day on theweathernetwork.com we will retrace the path and events that led to Hurricane Sandy making landfall in New Jersey on October 29, 2012. Read yesterday's first-hand account of the developing storm and come back tomorrow to read about Sandy making landfall in Cuba as a Category 2 hurricane.
With airports, schools and business closed, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Jamaica Wednesday, October 24, 2012.
Residents in flood-prone areas were moved to shelters as sustained winds of 130 km/h battered the island.
Jamaicans hunkered down at home as the front edge of the storm buffeted the Caribbean island with pelting rain and howling winds. Both of the island's international airports -- one in Kingston and one in Montego Bay -- were closed. Cruise ships changed their itineraries and police ordered 48-hour curfews in major towns to keep people off the streets.
Dangerous flash floods and mudslides set off by Sandy were a threat for the island of roughly 2.7 million inhabitants, Jamaica's meteorological service reported.
Satellite image of Sandy over Jamaica, October 24, 2012 (courtesy: NOAA)
In the hilly community of Kintyre, near the capital of Kingston, Sharon Gayle and a few of her drenched neighbours expected to lose the town's bridge over the Hope River, which washed away a section of the span just three weeks prior during a heavy downpour.
"We've gotten cut off here a whole heap of times. But with a big nasty hurricane on the way, I'm really nervous. We're trying not to show it in front of the children though," the mother of three told the Canadian Press, huddling under a sopping white towel as she stared at the rising river.
In Cuba, authorities issued a hurricane watch for several provinces and there were intermittent rains over Haiti, where a tropical storm warning was in effect. A tropical storm watch was also posted for parts of the Bahamas, where the storm was predicted to pass on Thursday, October 25th.
TOMORROW ON THE WEB: Hurricane Sandy targets Cuba.
