August 29th Hurricanes

I was reading a friends blog post today about Hurricane's.  It's been exactly 5 years since Hurricane Katrina and exactly 39 years since Category 5 Hurricane David hit Dominica.   I didn't realize that both of these occured on August 29th.  What's more shocking is Hurricane Earl is heading over the eastern caribbean as we speak.  It looks like it is really close to Dominica.  I am praying for all my friends that are still on the island.  I hope everyone will be ok.  I am sure it will because I spoke to a friend that said they are doing fine and that Antigua got more of the high winds and rain.

Click HERE for a weather map of Hurricane Earl and Dominica.

My video from Hurricane Omar in Dominica:

  

In October of 2008 Keith, I and Alex we're in Dominica when Hurricane Omar hit.  Omar was only a category two hurricane, but it still did quite a bit of damage.

Hurricane Bill is a Category 4 Hurricane

Here is Hurricane Bill and we are on the island of Dominica. The capital of Dominica is Roseau. So you can see how close it is to us. Although it looks like it will miss us. We might get some rain from it but I think that is about it since it is headed in a West-northwest motion.

In other news, Keith has his final exam today. He is doing so well this semester, so I am sure he will do fine on the exam! Then we will spend the next two weeks on the island relaxing and exploring the island. On Saturday Keith and I plan to hike Boiling Lake with friends, then on Sunday, we may take a boat trip on the Indian River, On Wednesday, we are going back to Red Rock for a day at the beach. Next week we are going to spend a few nights at Fort Young Hotel, in Roseau!

Tropical Storms

Tropical Storm Ana has now been downgraded to a tropical depression. But it seems that Tropical Storm Bill will be a hurricane by tonight or tomorrow morning. The path of Bill is headed northwest so it could go north of us. Either way we will still see the effects of it, as you can see this storm is huge! Last year we we're here when Hurricane Omar went north of us and we still got heavy winds and rainfall. Ross canceled classes and there was damage done on the island.

Dominica is currently in a Tropical Storm "Watch" and Ross has closed the school until Tuesday at 6pm. So it looks like we will all by staying inside tomorrow.

Tropical Storms and Tropical Depressions

We have a couple big storms headed our way. The first one is Tropical Storm Ana and the one behind it (closer to Africa) is a tropical depression. If you don't know the difference between them and a hurricane follow this link. Tropical Storm Ana seems to be heading north of us thankfully. But the bad part is it is the end/beginning of a new semester and a lot of students are going to be flying in and out of Dominica from Puerto Rico. The second storm, which is a Tropical Depression is headed right for us. Not only is it headed towards us, but the National Hurricane website forecasts that it will turn into a Tropical Storm within the next 12 hours and then it will turn into a Hurricane within the next 72 hours to 96 hours. Ouch!

Update-- the Tropical Depression has just been upgraded to a tropical storm, they are calling it Tropical Storm Bill.

A Tropical Storm in Dominica

Pics of the dock at Portsmouth Beach Hotel Beach.

Last night we didn't get much sleep, usually it is because the bugs or the heat but this time it stormed all night long. So I was glad to take Alex to daycare in the morning. I figured I would be able to go back home and catch up on some sleep. But about an hour later Keith comes home from class with Alex. Apparantly they had cancelled classes today because of a tropical storm. Hurricane Omar went to the north of us, but we did get some strong weather from it. We also lost our electricity for a few hours and didn't have internet at all today until around 2pm (This morning I checked my email on campus though and they did have internet). While Alex and Keith took a nap together I decided to go outside and see what this storm was all about. It didn't really seem that bad from our house. But as I got closer to the ocean the weather was worse. It was more windy and the waves from the ocean were huge. I walked to Portsmouth Beach Hotel Beach where many of the students seemed to be enjoying their time off of class and watching the waves and drinking beer. The dock that used to be there is not safe to use anymore. The water was up to the restaurant and the waves were very strong. I haven't seen anything like it before. I took some pics and video of it then decided to walk to Picard Grocery for some water (since our water is dark brown and absolutely disgusting).

Here is a video of the storm:

Here are some more recent video's.

Babysitting with Alex:

Alex calling her friends and inviting them to her birthday: