Heavy winds and rains flattened Haiti's tent cities - where 350,000 Haitians have been living, since 2010's devastating earthquake.
1 Haitian has been killed.
However, in Jamaica, we've felt minimal effects of the storm..the sky is overcast, but we've had little breeze and rain since last night into this afternoon.
It's strength has lessened to 60 mph and it is moving north-westerly direction at 17 mph.
On Sunday evening, Isaac is expected to strengthen as it passes over the Gulf of Mexico, when it is expected to hit the Florida Keys and South Florida.
We are deeply saddened to hear of the fatalities and injuries and our hearts go out to the injured, their families and the families of those who've died.
What Caribbean Airlines needs to do immediately, is:
1) Issue a statement re these crashes
2) Begin investigations to ascertain what caused these crashes.
3) Hire and rehire all the Jamaican maintenance staff that belonged to Air Jamaica, to work with them.
Air Jamaica had a perfect safety record during its 42 years of operation, due to the expertise of its maintenance staff, ground crew and pilots.
They can teach the Trinidadians a thing or two about how to maintain airplanes that are over ten (10) years old.
In the meantime, people, until Caribbean Airlines can give you a valid reason for continuing to travel with them, please be very wary of flying with them.
Everyone, I was alerted by an avid Trinidadian reader of this blog, that the Daily Mail article above, re the Caribbean Airlines plane crash in St. Barthelemy (St. Barths) may be in error.
There is an Air Caraïbes that flies to St. Bathelemy (St. Barths), that the Daily Mail could have mistaken for Caribbean Airlines.
The Daily Mailarticle that I referred to, above, unfortunately has no date assigned, so when I picked up the article, through Google and the article said "4 hours ago", with yesterday's date.. and the paper's date heading (which was yesterday), appeared, it seemed like the article's date heading.
I assumed that the Daily Mail article was current and correct.
What I will do is issue an apology immediately, if this information re this crash in St. Barthelemy is incorrect.
But to my Trinidadian friends, I will not retract my statement re Caribbean Airlines hiring and rehiring Jamaican maintenance crew, pilots and ground crew...I think it's a mistake for them to get rid of some of the best people who understand how to maintain and fly, 10+ year-old aircraft.
...Their safety record proves it. :)
Friends, I will do some more research and get back to you.
To my Trinidadian friend who pointed this out...thanks for the "heads up"...deeply appreciated! :)
================= Update End ================
(I would like to thank stinksud for the use of their YouTube inset video above , entitled,"Caribbean Airlines Crash Landed in Guyana July 30th 2011". We apologize for the poor quality of the video above).
The Flash Flood Warning that was in force for just 64% of the island, yesterday, has been extended to the entire island, for the next 48 hours.
The trough which is slowly moving to the North-West of us, is still hovering over the island and there is a tropical wave in the Eastern Caribbean that should reach us by the weekend.
There are reported landslides, island-wide.
One (1) person from the Bob Marley Beach in Bull Bay, St. Andrew, reportedly drowned on Sunday, when he and another man went to retrieve fish pots in a small boat.
Apparently the fishing boat was trapped by flood waters caused by the inclement weather.
The other man was reportedly rescued and taken to hospital
Nine (9) persons were today marooned in Hill Ground area of St. Catherine.
Mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew - Mayor Desmond McKenzie reported on Nationwide Radio's Cover Story that significant damage has occurred in the Sandy and Seaview Gullies...emergency operations are now in force to rescue residents there
He also said that every rural division of St. Andrew has land slides resulting in blocked roads and that flooding has occurred in the traditional flood-prone areas e.g. Kintyre
Television Jamaica News showed sections of Portmore, St. Catherine, that were flooded out due to a major drain being blocked.
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Nationwide Radio's Cover Story, June 7, 2011
2) Television Jamaica's Nightly News at 7:00 p.m., June 7, 2011
3) CVM Television's News Watch Hour at 8:00 p.m., June 7, 2011
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