21/08: Hurricane Dean Spares The Cayman Islands

I am pleased to report that our recent brush with hurricane Dean is now over. Luckily we were spared the worst and held our collective breath on the night of Sunday 19 August as Dean approached. It was a windy night and by 7am on Monday morning, still experiencing tropical storm force winds, a look outside confirmed that the expected heavy rainfall had not materialized and that wind damage in our immediate area had been minimal.

The eye of the storm had past over 100 miles south of Grand Cayman, but due  to its size and ferocity, the effects on both wind and tides were felt by our small islands for a period of at least 24 hours. 

The utility companies had even managed to maintain power supplies for the night although water had been cut at 9pm Sunday and we did lose power sporadically for several hours during Monday.  After the all clear was given, people emerged from their homes to find  surprisingly little  damage.  Wave action had been severe and localized flooding had affected some areas, but, in view of how severe Dean was, the general feeling on island is one of huge relief, and today, enjoying beautiful blue skies, things are returning to normal once again, for most of us. Seas remain heavy, but the winds  have dropped and the floods have begun to recede.

Dean continued westward and hit the Yucatan, unleashing its full category five force as it made landfall there. 

I have posted this update as so many visitors came by looking for information in the past few days. Normal service will be resumed here at the blog over the course of this week. Below you can see the wave action seen on Monday afternoon on Grand Cayman's south coast.

TCH