The outer fringes of Hurricane Sandy have already reached the island
Jamaicans have taken refuge in shelters and their homes as Hurricane Sandy nears the island’s south coast.
Schools and airports are closed and a curfew has been imposed in major towns to keep people off the streets and deter looting.
Jamaica’s meteorological service said it was expecting winds to reach up to 125kph (80mph) and as much as 25cm (10in) of rain.
The service expressed its concern over hurt from mudslides and flash floods.
Much of the island’s infrastructure is in a poor state of repair, and a lack of effective plotting regulation has resulted in homes being built close to embankments and gullies.
Leaks
On Tuesday, a resident of Standpipe, one of the poorer quarters of Kingston, was trying to complete repairs to a roof which leaks terribly even during a lesser downpour.
“We don’t have much time,” said Andre Howt. “We heard on the radio that the hurricane was coming this way. We’ll be getting wet.”
Hurricane Sandy is expected to travel straight across Jamaica, threatening both Kingston and the northern resort of Ochos Rios, before heading towards eastern Cuba and the Bahamas.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are also expected to be hit by its easternmost fringes.
While Jamaica was ravaged by winds from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the eye of a hurricane hasn’t crossed the island since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
Nearly 50 people were killed by that storm, and the then Prime Minister, Edward Seaga, described the toughest hit areas near where Gilbert made landfall as looking “like Hiroshima after the atom bomb”.
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