Cuban radar site active, good view of eye: added Casablanca

[NC George]

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[HurricaneGirl]

WOW. It's crazy how quickly it strenthened to a Cat 4. I'm totally amazed but wasn't surprised to find it had strengthened overnight.

[skysummit]

WOW...that's perfect!

[Hurricane Cheese]

BUMP for those just waking up.

Perhaps we can get a better read on Dennis' current trajectory by looking at the Cuban radar...

[karenfromheaven]

Linky, please....

[Hyperstorm]

Just what a Category 4 hurricane would look like.

Mother Nature at its finest...

[TampaFl]

Linky, please....

Here it is:

http://www.met.inf.cu/asp/genesis.asp?T ... UEGOSA.gif

Robert

[CentralFlGal]

::sigh::

No Havana Daydreaming for the citizens today...

I wish them well.

[CentralFlGal]

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 08 Jul 2005
Print E-mail Save 'Major' Hurricane Dennis strengthens, threatens Cuba, FloridaHAVANA, July 8 (AFP) - Cuba on Friday braced for the arrival of "major" Hurricane Dennis after the storm dumped rain on Jamaica, while Florida authorities issued a state of emergency and ordered evacuations.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said an "Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft indicates that major Hurricane Dennis has continued to strengthen," packing winds in excess of 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour, with intense rain. The center also warned that storm surge flooding and mudslides were possible within the path of the hurricane.

The full brunt of the storm, which was upgraded to a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale -- on which five is the maximum -- looked set to hit the central part of Cuba.

At least 200,000 people have been evacuated from their homes on the island, civil defense officials said.

Cuban President Fidel Castro went on national television to reassure the population that the country was ready to meet the challenge, but he warned that the hurricane would likely cause much damage.

"We have an important organizational and defense plan functioning like clockwork," Castro said, adding that the goal was to "save people, that not one life is lost."

The center of the powerful hurricane skirted past the eastern tip of Jamaica Thursday afternoon but dumped rain and flooded roads on the island as well as on parts of southern Haiti.

In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush, the US president's brother, declared a statewide emergency, and evacuations started in the Florida Keys, a highly exposed chain of islands linked to the mainland by a single road and a series of bridges.

Forecasts by the US hurricane center showed that the storm could eventually make landfall in northwestern Florida after moving over Cuba and the Florida Keys, and crossing the Gulf of Mexico on a track that could take it over offshore oil platforms.

At 1200 GMT Friday, Dennis, the year's first Atlantic hurricane, was located 370 kilometers (230 miles) southeast of Havana and had slowed down a bit, moving in a northwesterly direction at 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour.

The hurricane center noted, however, that "some additional strengthening is possible before landfall in Cuba."

Cuba's Meteorological Institute said Dennis had skirted the tip of Cabo Cruz, the southeastern tip of the island, at midnight.

Dennis caused extensive flooding in Jamaica on Thursday, with the National Emergency Operations Center reporting many people trapped by floodwaters in inaccessible areas. There were no reports of deaths or widespread damage.

In Cuba, tens of thousands of people were evacuated, in many cases taking their livestock with them. More than 2,500 foreign tourists at the Cayo Largo beach resort also moved to higher ground, according to Cuban radio.

Forecasters warned that the Cayman Islands could also be affected by the hurricane.

Residents of Florida, hit by four devastating hurricanes last year, kept a weary eye on the dangerous weather system.

The governor warned that Dennis could cause a "major disaster" and called for the evacuation of high-risk areas, saying there was "an immediate danger to the lives and property of the residents of those communities."

Authorities in the Florida Keys ordered the evacuation of all non-residents, and urged residents to leave the most exposed areas.

But NASA officials said the storm was not causing any immediate concerns for the planned July 13 launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

"While it is bad news for the Gulf Coast, as far as the shuttle launch is concerned, we are pressing ahead for our July 13 launch," said spokesman Mike Rein.

Oil markets were also keeping a close eye on the storm, which could head over drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that had been evacuated before Tropical Storm Cindy made landfall on Wednesday.

Cindy slammed the US states of Mississippi and Louisiana Wednesday, flooding streets and cutting power to about a quarter of a million people.

burs-ejp/mac

Copyright (c) 2005 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 07/08/2005 09:13:47

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVIU-6E4HQU?OpenDocument

[Windy]

Given the track of the storm, something tells me that radar won't be up when the day is over!

[ColdWaterConch]

Given the track of the storm, something tells me that radar won't be up when the day is over!

I'll set the over/under at 1.5 hrs from now....no way it survives, and I can't believe it is still up....

[The Big Dog]

Looks like it's barely going to miss that big hill. There goes that idea.

[cycloneye]

Bumping for the members who haved not seen this radar.

[The Big Dog]

Given the track of the storm, something tells me that radar won't be up when the day is over!

I'll set the over/under at 1.5 hrs from now....no way it survives, and I can't believe it is still up....

I think it went down shortly after you wrote this. Hasn't been updated since 10:30am.

[The Big Dog]

I take that back... it came back up. Still not current, though.

[NC George]

We'll be able to shift to the Casablanca site soon, when the eye shows there I'll change the view.