Preparations
The Weather Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico issued a hurricane warning for Trinidad, Tobago, and the Grenadines south of Saint Vincent in the cyclone's first advisory on Hurricane Flora. Gale warnings were later issued for islands off northern Venezuela and from Saint Vincent northward to Martinique. Advisories on Flora emphasized the danger of the hurricane and advised preparations to be rushed to completion. The advisories also recommended small craft throughout the Windward Islands to remain at harbor and for shipping in the path of the hurricane to advise extreme caution. People in low-lying areas and near beaches were advised to evacuate to higher grounds, as well. Lead time was short, especially in Tobago which received news of the approaching hurricane just two hours before it struck.
On October 2, two days before it made landfall on southwestern Hispaniola, the San Juan Weather Bureau issued a gale warning from Barahona in the Dominican Republic to the Sud-Est Department of Haiti. Advisories recommended small craft in the southern portions of the countries to remain at port. Later that day, the gale warning was upgraded to a hurricane warning in southwestern Haiti. On the day of when Flora made landfall, advisories recommended all citizens on beaches and in low-lying areas west of Santo Domingo to evacuate. Carmelo Di Franco, the provisional Director of Civic Defense for the Dominican Republic, organized safety procedures and the dissemination of tropical cyclone bulletins from the San Juan Weather Bureau. Di Franco also organized for the transmission of hurricane emergency information to citizens, believed to reduce the loss of life. On the afternoon before the hurricane struck, the head of the Haitian Red Cross prohibited radio broadcasts of tropical cyclone advisories for fear of panic among citizens. As a result, many thought the hurricane would miss the country.
Officials at the Cuban National Observatory issued radio bulletins on the hurricane, which included the position of Flora, its intensity, direction of motion, and necessary warnings. By the time the hurricane left the island, more than 40,000 had been evacuated to safer areas.
The Weather Bureau predicted Flora to turn to the northwest after entering the Windward Passage and affect the Bahamas. Forecasters advised those in The Bahamas to quickly complete preparations, though the eye of the hurricane did not pass over the archipelago until four days later. When Flora turned to the northeast out to sea, forecasters again advised Bahamian citizens to prepare for the hurricane, and on October 9, weather advisories advised the southeastern Bahamas to prepare for gale-force winds and strong tides. One advisory considered there to be less than a 50% chance of the hurricane reaching southeastern Florida, though weather bulletins advised Florida citizens to monitor the hurricane. At its closest approach to Florida, the hurricane remained 330 miles (530 km) away, though gale warnings were issued from Stuart to Key West due to the hurricane's large size.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Flora
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete; being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry. The rest might wait. The preparations of new carriages and furniture might wait for London and the spring, when her own taste could have fairer play.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)