Preparations
Upon Felix's becoming a tropical cyclone, a tropical storm warning was issued for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago, and Grenada and its dependencies; a tropical storm watch was also issued for the northeastern Venezuela coast from Cumaná to Pedernales, including Isla Margarita, as well as the ABC islands. The National Emergency Management Agency of Tobago was fully activated, with 79 shelters opened on the island. Coinciding with the upgrade of Felix to tropical storm status, the watch for the ABC islands was upgraded to a tropical storm warning. A hurricane watch was added to the islands early on September 2, where several tourists attempted to leave by plane prior to the arrival of the storm. Early on September 2, the government of Jamaica issued a tropical storm watch for the island, which was canceled as the hurricane passed far to its south. Later on September 2, a tropical storm watch was issued for Grand Cayman, and the next day a tropical storm warning was put in place on Providencia Island. A hurricane watch was issued for the Caribbean coast of Guatemala and the entire coastline of Belize at 1200 UTC on September 3.
At 0300 UTC on September 3, the government of Honduras issued a hurricane watch from Limón to the Honduras/Nicaragua border, which was upgraded to a hurricane warning six hours later. At the same time, a hurricane watch was extended westward to the Honduras/Guatemala border, and early on September 4 a tropical storm warning was put in place for the same region. Officials ordered evacuations for citizens in low-lying areas near the coastline; by midday on September 3, around 300 tourists evacuated from the Bay Islands department, with an additional 400 preparing to leave by plane; approximately 2,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas. By the time the hurricane made landfall, about 20,000 people in Honduras left for safer areas.
At 1500 UTC on September 3, about 21 hours before its final landfall, the government of Nicaragua issued a hurricane warning from Puerto Cabezas northward to the national border. About 12 hours before landfall, a tropical storm warning was issued from Puerto Cabezas southward to Prinzapolka. Prior to the arrival of the hurricane, officials sent about 140,000 lbs (63,000 kg) of meals and emergency supplies to near the landfall location.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Felix
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“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)
“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)