A worrying silence and a nervous wait for us all in the eye of the storm
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Your support makes all the difference.It is a bit like being at the eye of a storm. There is barely a breath of wind here in Kingston but the forecasters tell us we are about to be hit by the worst hurricane in 100 years.
It is a bit like being at the eye of a storm. There is barely a breath of wind here in Kingston but the forecasters tell us we are about to be hit by the worst hurricane in 100 years.
The past couple of days have seen people nervously queuing at shops to get all the things they might need to sit out Hurricane Ivan.
Water, torches and batteries, candles, canned foods most of the shopkeepers are running out of supplies.
Jamaicans, for once, are taking the threat of Hurricane Ivan very seriously, and are making urgent preparations for its onslaught.
In the past few months, many Jamaicans have grown wary of hurricane or tropical storm warnings because, in most cases, these systems never hit the island. But that is not the case with Hurricane Ivan, especially after Jamaicans saw what it did to their Caribbean neighbours, particularly Grenada. Most, if not all, businesses have closed in anticipation of Hurricane Ivan's onslaught. The streets are empty.
Sheets of plywood have been used to cover glass windows and doors, while others used timber to batten down hatches. Fishermen have lashed their boats to trees in the hope that they will survive the storm.
The people who may be hardest hit are those in the shanty-style "board houses" in the "corporate area" of Kingston and St Andrew's metropolitan districts. Some of them have been evacuated to emergency centres set up by the Government. Others have sought refuge in the few concrete buildings in their districts.
As always in times of crisis, wild rumour has thrived as the tension has increased. In the middle of the afternoon, there were even reports that Jamaica's meteorology office had gone on strike over pay. The Associated Press news wire reported that the weathermen were not answering their telephones and had left their stations just as the worst storm to hit the island in decades approached. The rumour was later denied.
The general atmosphere is of sombre foreboding but not all residents have heeded the warnings. There were reports of some residents refusing to leave their houses in vulnerable areas. Police said one man died after apparently heading out to sea in a boat.
Omar Anderson is a reporter with the 'Jamaica Gleaner' newspaper
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