Preparations
Beginning at 0900 UTC on October 18, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch was issued for Barbados. Three hours later, a tropical storm watch was put into effect in Trinidad and Tobago. Late on October 18, a hurricane watch was also issued for Grenadines, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and Dominica, while a tropical storm watch and a warning was extended to include Barbados and Grenada, respectively. Around then, the tropical storm watch that was issued for Trinidad and Tobago was discontinued. Early on October 19, the hurricane watch was extended to include Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla, as well as St. Eustatius, Saba, St. Maarten, St. Martin, and St. Barthelemy shortly thereafter. A hurricane watch in effect for St. Vincent and the Grenadines was soon downgraded to a tropical storm watch; simultaneously, the hurricane watch that was issued for Barbados was canceled. By 0900 UTC on October 19, the hurricane watches in effect for Dominica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe were all upgraded to a hurricane warning. Additionally, the tropical storm watch in Grenada was discontinued.
At 1500 UTC on October 19, the hurricane watch in Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, Nevis, Saint Kitts, St. Eustatius, Saba, St. Maarten, and Anguilla, was upgraded to a hurricane warning. Simultaneously, a hurricane watch went into effect for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, while a tropical storm warning was issued for St. Lucia. It was then that the tropical storm watch in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was discontinued. Later on October 19, the hurricane watch previously issued for the Virgin Island and Puerto Rico was upgraded to a hurricane warning. In St. Lucia, the hurricane watch was canceled. At 1200 UTC on October 20, a hurricane warning as put into effect for Desirade, St. Martin, and St. Barthelemy. Throughout the day, the hurricane warnings in Guadeloupe, Dominica, Antigua, and Desirade were discontinued. By 2100 UTC on October 21, all watches and warnings in effect were discontinued.
Twenty-four shelters were set up in Antigua and Barbuda, but only 516 people used the shelters. In Saint Kitts, many tourists were forced to ride out the storm after airports began canceling flights on October 19 and shutting down completely on October 20. Deputy Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis Sam Condor warned residents to "prepare for the worst". The Governor of the United States Virgin Islands Charles Wesley Turnbull issued a curfew effective at 6 p.m. AST on October 20. It was reported on October 20 that 343 shelters would be opened in Puerto Rico, which were stocked with thousands of cots and sleeping bags. Additionally, the police department activated all 18,000 of its officers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency assembled a seven-member Mobilization Center Management Team, with ice and water being pre-staged at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Jose (1999)
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“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)
“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.)