Hurricane
In Case of a Hurricane...If you are a student at Ross Medical School, long before your first hurricane season tell your relatives this: First, most loss of life in hurricanes is from flooding. For a flood to occur in Dominica water would have to run uphill. You are safe. Second, if there is a hurricane you will be out of contact with your friends and relatives for a long time. The first thing that happens in a hurricane is that Cable and Wireless (the phone company) puts down its
satellite dish to keep it from getting blown away. After the hurricane, the wires to your house are O.S.O.I. (on some other island). During the hurricane: When people build houses in Dominica they assume they are going to get run over by a hurricane sooner or later. They build the roofs to stay on. If there is another hurricane David (which all Dominicans remember), it is impossible to absolutely guarantee that you won’t loose your roof. However, if that happens, you will get
wet, not squashed. The danger in a hurricane is from stuff blowing around outside - especially “galvanized” which may blow off the roofs of some of the poorly constructed wood houses. So, stay inside and stay away from windows. Keep the windows open on the up-wind side of your house. Note that the direction of the wind may change as the hurricane passes. If there is a sudden lull in the wind, it may be that the eye of the hurricane is passing over you. Don’t go out. When the wind starts,
again, it will be from the opposite direction. Afterward, avoid downed power lines. After the hurricane: You are going to be unhappy for a while because there won’t be any water or electricity. School will go on. During hurricane season (late Summer and early Fall) keep bottled water and candles on hand. (As of this writing, we have not seen a hurricane for four years.) Storm Classifications and DefinitionsHurricane | An intense tropical weather system of strong thunderstorms with a well-defined surface circulation. | 74 mph | Tropical Storm | An organized system of strong thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation. | 39 - 73 mph | Tropical Depression | An organized system of clouds and thunderstorms with a defined surface circulation. | 38 mph |
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