August 18, 2007
Hurricane Dean's Eye/Eye Wall (click here)
August 18, 2007
Hurricane Dean at Cat 4 - click on picture to enlarge, fascinating to see it all close up.
August 22, 2007
Hurricane Dean
Cat 5 (click here)
August 23, 2007
POZA RICA, Mexico: It drove terror deep into Mexico, smashing ashore as the third most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to hit land.
But the furious beast proved relatively toothless, knocking down shacks, destroying sugar cane, corn crops and mango orchards, and killing at least eight people. Insured losses were estimated to be less than US$300 million.
The reason? Large-scale preparations — and a lot of luck.
Fast-moving Hurricane Dean first punched the Yucatan peninsula as a Category 5 storm, and many feared catastrophe for one of Mexico's poorest regions. It later spun through the heart of Mexico's offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the mainland coast.
But luckily, Dean missed all major cities, tearing through areas of tiny villages, farmland and forest. It didn't linger like more damaging storms, and by the time it hit key oil platforms and ports, it had weakened....
But the furious beast proved relatively toothless, knocking down shacks, destroying sugar cane, corn crops and mango orchards, and killing at least eight people. Insured losses were estimated to be less than US$300 million.
The reason? Large-scale preparations — and a lot of luck.
Fast-moving Hurricane Dean first punched the Yucatan peninsula as a Category 5 storm, and many feared catastrophe for one of Mexico's poorest regions. It later spun through the heart of Mexico's offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the mainland coast.
But luckily, Dean missed all major cities, tearing through areas of tiny villages, farmland and forest. It didn't linger like more damaging storms, and by the time it hit key oil platforms and ports, it had weakened....
Despite 165-mph winds and widespread damage, no deaths are reported in Mexico from Hurricane Dean. Officials cite education and their preparations.
Nature, good luck and good planning all combined Tuesday to deliver what the people of the Yucatan Peninsula called a miracle.
Hurricane Dean, packing 165-mph winds, was a Category 5 storm when it made landfall near this town of 20,000 people early Tuesday. And it remained a "monster" as it crossed the peninsula, causing widespread destruction....
Hurricane Dean, packing 165-mph winds, was a Category 5 storm when it made landfall near this town of 20,000 people early Tuesday. And it remained a "monster" as it crossed the peninsula, causing widespread destruction....
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Insurance industry and government stakeholders have placed the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Dean after it sideswiped the island two Sundays ago at approximately $8 billion, in an early assessment this week.
Director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr Wesley Hughes, told the Business Observer on Monday that preliminary assessments of the damage indicate that it may be in a range between "10 per cent less than or 10 per cent more than" the total damages caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004....
Insurance industry and government stakeholders have placed the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Dean after it sideswiped the island two Sundays ago at approximately $8 billion, in an early assessment this week.
Director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr Wesley Hughes, told the Business Observer on Monday that preliminary assessments of the damage indicate that it may be in a range between "10 per cent less than or 10 per cent more than" the total damages caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004....
A SOLDIER from Potters Bar was stranded in Jamaica as Hurricane Dean battered the island.Guardsman Matt Cox, 20, had been coming to the end of a six-week training exercise in the jungle.But his unit had to seek refuge at the British High Commission in Kingston as the hurricane struck.An Army spokeswoman said the soldiers were put on standby to assist with relief efforts, if requested to do so.They had already set up a generator to restore power at the High Commission and had been clearing debris at the locality.The hurricane claimed the lives of 18 people as it ripped through the Caribbean and on to Mexico, before fizzling out....
