By Suelika N. Buchanan
Editor-SKNVibes.com
It was a gloomy afternoon Yesterday Tuesday August 1, when many Kittitians who normally ended their day jobs after 4 or 5 in the noon scurried on home preparing for a storm.
"This isn't the kind of weather to be caught up in," said a father of three as he picked up his kids from school.
A Tropical Storm warning was already out on the local radio station ZIZ that asked citizens to prepare themselves for tropical storm Chris.
The Federation was expected to experience wind, rain and flash floods last night as the weather was expected to change in the evening.
Carl Herbert, coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency told SKNVibes yesterday that small craft owners should take heed and bring their boats closer to shore.
He also said that persons with vehicles should avoid parking their vehicles in guts and should listen to their radios for updates on the storm.
"Hurricane Hugo and Lenny were no easy storms," the father continued. "We can't deal with another devastation and impact like those two did to our country back then."
Tropical Storm Chris is the third storm for the 2006 Hurricane season and it has past the eastern Caribbean islands which included St. Kitts and Nevis earlier this morning.
However, forecasters said that the storm which is headed in the direction of the Virgin Islands could strengthen into a hurricane later today. To be a hurricane, the storm must reach sustained winds of at least 74 mph.
The storm had top sustained winds of nearly 60 mph as it passed over the northernmost Leeward Islands, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. At 5:00 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 60 miles northeast of St. Maarten in the Leeward Islands, moving west-northwest at 10 mph.
~~Adz:Right~~A tropical storm warning remained in effect for St. Barthelemy, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. As Tropical storm warnings for Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis was discontinued.
People are also encouraged to practice the regular customs of preparing for a storm including stocking up on gas, food, water and candles or lamps.
The U.S. National Weather Service said Puerto Rico would see strong gusts of wind and heavy rain Wednesday afternoon. The Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico could receive up to 8 inches of rain and could experience flash floods and mudslides, forecasters said.
"For this Hurricane season we're expecting 17 storms," said Herbert of NEMA.
