Hurricane Matthew headed for Half Moon Cay

[OlsSalt]

WaPo this morning: re - HMC

 

“The eye of Matthew should pass near Andros Island and New Providence in the northwestern Bahamas early this morning, then pass near Grand Bahama Island late today, and move very close to the east coast of the Florida peninsula tonight through Friday night,” the center said."

[mcw331]

We will have to wait for reports on damage reports to Half Moon Cay and there could be a lot of damage but there is some hope:

 

1. Matthew died down a little last night briefly as it passed by Half Moon Cay

2. Matthew passed by 80 miles west of HMC (with the worst winds 40 miles west of HMC)

3. Staniel Cay (40 miles southwest of HMC) reported max sustained winds of 60MPH with gusts to 74MPH last night as Matthew passed. Theoretically HMC should have been less.

3. The above winds and wave action were from the east. And HMC sits in the leeward shadow of the larger Cat Island. And the dock and beach at HMC sits on the leeside of the island.

 

We shall see once Carnival & HAL start assessing damage later this week.

[mcw331]

We will have to wait for reports on damage reports to Half Moon Cay and there could be a lot of damage but there is some hope:

 

1. Matthew died down a little last night briefly as it passed by Half Moon Cay

2. Matthew passed by 80 miles west of HMC (with the worst winds 40 miles west of HMC)

3. Staniel Cay (40 miles southwest of HMC) reported max sustained winds of 60MPH with gusts to 74MPH last night as Matthew passed. Theoretically HMC should have been less.

3. The above winds and wave action were from the east. And HMC sits in the leeward shadow of the larger Cat Island. And the dock and beach at HMC sits on the leeside of the island.

 

We shall see once Carnival & HAL start assessing damage later this week.

 

 

Correction Staniel Cay max sustained was 72mph with gust to 103mph at about 3am today

[sail7seas]

Yes, I have seen that, too. Let's hope that forecast is wrong or will change; only one model was showing that last night and now a few are. :eek: Plus, after it would hit the Bahamas again, it'd hit FL again.

If that loop actually happens, it will prevent Matthew from riidng the coast north to New England etc. while I do not wish more storm for anyone we would be grateful in Boston to keep the storm south of us.

[Tampa Girl]

Yes. It's here:

 

Long Island

 

https://goo.gl/maps/643Hn7n1MJN2

 

Son of a gun! Never knew it existed.

[Tampa Girl]

Now it is 140 mph and expected to go to 145, hitting or coming close to the area between Vero Beach and Jacksonville It is really going to do a number on the Florida East Coast. It is a large storm and even an indirect hit is going to do massive damage. At that velocity, buildings will fail. I hope people in its projected path have gotten out of the way. My prayers go out to them and to Haiti and all the other Matthew victims.

[Fouremco]

Son of a gun! Never knew it existed.

And there's a Tampa in Kansas you might not know exists! :)

 

Even travel agents can get things confused. In 2002, a UK coupled landed in Sydney, Nova Scotia, rather than their anticipated Australian destination. Exactly the same thing happened again in 2010, this time with an Italian couple. In both cases, the travel agents were at fault, but how anyone could embark on an international flight without checking their tickets first is beyond me! :eek:

[OlsSalt]

Now it is 140 mph and expected to go to 145, hitting or coming close to the area between Vero Beach and Jacksonville It is really going to do a number on the Florida East Coast. It is a large storm and even an indirect hit is going to do massive damage. At that velocity, buildings will fail. I hope people in its projected path have gotten out of the way. My prayers go out to them and to Haiti and all the other Matthew victims.

 

I am so sorry to hear this report - thought and prayers to all in this area.

[sppunk]

Freeport is getting mauled right now. Rest of Bahamas got somewhat lucky as Matthew wobbled east. But no more luck.

[mcw331]

Initial reports out of Cat Island, The Exumas, Eleuthera and Long Island are pretty good considering how big and bad Matthew is.

 

HMC sits about 20 miles West of the Northern end of Cat Island and 20 miles East of the Southern end of Eleuthera.

 

Report from Tribune242 below:

 

CAT Island administrator Jackson McIntosh says the island "fared well" during Hurricane Matthew.

 

#"There has been no report of injury or emergencies and we fared pretty well here in Cat Island," he told The Tribune shortly before 8.30am on Thursday.

 

#It continues to rain on Cat Island, however. Mr McIntosh said he and an emergency team are set to begin travelling round the island to assess the storm's impact.

 

#"We have not been impacted that greatly as far as we know as yet," he said. "We had tropical storm conditions. There's been no reporting of flooding or surge damages so far. We had on and off rain throughout last night and high winds of about 70 to 80mph. The winds weren't sustained long enough to leave major damage though. We lost power at six yesterday but our telecommunications system is still up."

 

#Mr McIntosh's assessment of Matthew's impact on the island fits into a pattern emerging as the storm departs the southern Bahamas.

 

#Island administrators for Long Island and Inagua have also said their islands fared reasonably well during the storm, reporting no loss of life, emergency situations or widespread damage to people's properties.

[Krazy Kruizers]

This is a very terrible hurricane.

Prayers for all that live in the path of this hurricane.

[OlsSalt]

mcw331 - thank you for your very detailed, on the spot location reports.

Edited October 7, 2016 by OlsSalt

[BeagleOne]

The 140 mph winds are in a very small band around the eye, and at this point, the eye is offshore and may not hit land at all.

[OlsSalt]

Caveat: not from the National Hurricane Center but a website called Tropical Tidbits: an interesting explanation with graphics and visuals to explain what to watch out for:

Edited October 7, 2016 by OlsSalt

[Beauxyeux]

Caveat: not from the National Hurricane Center but a website called Tropical Tidbits: an interesting explanation with graphics and visuals to explain what to watch out for:

 

 

 

Very interesting to get for once detailed explanations of the radar images, I feel for the people forced to evacuate... [emoji17]

[gentlemancruiser]

South Eleuthera Emerges from Matthew

 

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2016/oct/06/south-eleuthera-emerges-matthews-100mph-winds/

 

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2016/oct/07/live-updates-hurricane-matthew/

Edited October 7, 2016 by gentlemancruiser

[Tampa Girl]

And there's a Tampa in Kansas you might not know exists! :)

 

E:

 

Good to know. Henceforth, I won't take it for granted that the agents know that it is Tampa, Florida!

[Tampa Girl]

The 140 mph winds are in a very small band around the eye, and at this point, the eye is offshore and may not hit land at all.

 

As Jacksonville and Savannah have found out, it is not the eye that causes the damage. Fortunately, the storm was downgraded considerably from the 140 mph by the time it affected the East Coast.

[robptaylor]

I have a cruise in two weeks with a stop planned at HMC. Has anyone heard if it is open?

 

I saw Carnival recently cancelled a few stops to HMC and diverted to Key West. Honestly, that would be great for us because we have been to HMC three times but never to Key West but I suspect for most on our ship they would prefer HMC.

 

I called Ship Services to book some on board stuff and asked but they had not heard anything but that early in the week before anyone had probably received an update.

[CruiserBruce]

Per a thread on the Carnival board, they were checking the island yesterday, so we may get some info today or tomorrow. Carnival had canceled all stops there until next weekend.

[mcw331]

Closest report I've seen so far from the Tails Winds Resort on the North end of Cat Island 14 miles east of the beach at HMC.

 

TAIL WINDS RESORT

October 4, 2015 ·

Hi! every one tailwinds made it through hurricane Joaquin with out

a scratch and we are open. So plan a get away and come on down.

Hope to see some of you,

Rich

 

The first Carnival cruise scheduled to go there after Matthew left Port Canaveral last night and is scheduled to spend two days in Nassau and they said they are assessing HMC. We should hear something soon. But I suspect HMC will be reopened soon.

[alwaysfrantic]

Closest report I've seen so far from the Tails Winds Resort on the North end of Cat Island 14 miles east of the beach at HMC.

 

TAIL WINDS RESORT

October 4, 2015 ·

Hi! every one tailwinds made it through hurricane Joaquin with out

a scratch and we are open. So plan a get away and come on down.

Hope to see some of you,

Rich

 

The first Carnival cruise scheduled to go there after Matthew left Port Canaveral last night and is scheduled to spend two days in Nassau and they said they are assessing HMC. We should hear something soon. But I suspect HMC will be reopened soon.

 

That report was from a different hurricane in a different year.

[mcw331]

That report was from a different hurricane in a different year.

 

Just saw that. Man they really keep there Facebook page up to date. That was there newest post. Thanks for catching that.

[mcw331]

OK. I spoke directly with Tail Winds Resort on Cat Island and they received no damage at all and are open for business as usual.

 

Again this is 14 miles East of HMC's beach. So there is hope HMC will be reopened soon.

[RSWBADGER]

Carnival Conquest - 10/9/16 departure

The Carnival Conquest cruise will depart on Oct. 9. Unfortunately, after post-storm assessments, we are sorry that we cannot call on Half Moon Cay as the island is not ready to support our visit there. You will receive a refund for any pre-paid shore excursions and the taxes, fees and port expenses for Half Moon Cay. The remainder of our itinerary remains as scheduled.

 

This from the Carnival website today.

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4091/session/L3RpbWUvMTQ3NjAyNjIxNi9zaWQvZ20ycndHKm0%3D