Hurricane Warning San Andres...

toneloc24 says on Oct 28, 2005, 10:08:

Any updates to this yet???

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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Eclipse says on Oct 28, 2005, 15:49:

Update Seems it missed San Andres, but still approaching Providencia.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/10/28/beta/index.html

SAN ANDRES, Colombia (AP) -- Tourists and residents on the Colombian island of San Andres who hunkered down in shelters to brace for Tropical Storm Beta were spared the brunt of the storm as Beta's eye veered east of the island Friday.

But the storm, which appeared on track to become the 13th hurricane of the already record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, still posed a threat to the smaller, neighboring Colombian island of Providencia and the Nicaraguan mainland, said Humberto Gonzalez with Colombia's meteorology institute.

"Right now Beta is moving away from San Andres island, but on the contrary, is it approaching Providencia," he said. Providencia is a mountainous island north of San Andres with plenty of high ground.

In San Andres, which sits 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Nicaragua's coast, the storm brought just light rains and wind. After the island's police lifted a ban on people being outside, some tourists returned to the beaches and swam in the ocean.

After passing over Providencia, it is expected hit mainland Nicaragua as a strong Category 2 hurricane by Sunday. It was not expected to hit the United States.

Officials on both islands said residents were prepared for the worst.

"We've been watching the Americans on TV, learning from them," said Col. Carlos Mena, the police chief of San Andres.

Hurricane Wilma, the most recent storm to hit the United States, has caused widespread outages and gasoline shortages across Florida, and the U.S. Gulf Coast is still struggling to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which caused chaos and devastation in New Orleans and other communities in August and September.

In Nicaragua, the government was evacuating 5,000 people from the Caribbean coastline and sending in troops to help the remote region prepare for the storm's expected arrival Sunday.

"We can't do anything about damage to property," said Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos. "We will see about that afterward. The important thing is to save lives."

Classes were canceled, and businesses were warned against price gouging as the storm's outer bands of winds and rain began lashing the coastline.

Bolanos said the government was sending in food, medicine, clothing and other emergency supplies.

Gonzalez said the storm was likely to hit Providencia with winds of 100 kph (62 mph), and that Beta's eye may pass right on top of it.

Beta was moving north slowly at about 5 mph, and was expected to take a gradual turn to the northwest.

This year's Atlantic hurricane season has seen more named storms than at any point since record keeping began in 1851. The previous record of 21 was set in 1933.

Last week Tropical Storm Alpha formed, which was the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names was exhausted.

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