Cayman Brac is vowing to rebuild after being devastated by Hurricane Paloma over the weekend. For now, however, “over half of the islands 2,000 residents remain at least temporarily homeless, and are either staying in hurricane shelters, with friends and family, or have fled to Grand Cayman,” according to the Cay Compass.
Meanwhile, the Castro government says Cuba has suffered $10 billion in damage from Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma. Of that total, $1.4 billion was caused by Paloma. Cuba says it evacuated 1.2 million people out of Paloma’s path, and that no one died — though such claims are difficult, if not impossible, to verify. A dissident group claims there was one death in the storm.
Thankfully, for both the Caymans and Cuba, all is now quiet in the tropical Atlantic, with no threat areas to discuss. Dr. Jeff Masters thinks we could get a Subtropical Storm Rene over open water south of Azores in a week’s time, but if so, it would be no threat to land. “I am not expecting any more tropical storms this season that will threaten land areas,” he writes. “With wind shear expected to rise over the Caribbean later this week, and continue to remain at high levels until late November, it is likely that the Atlantic hurricane season of 2008 is finally over in the Caribbean.”
And what a season it was. Via ReliefWeb, here’s a map of the 2008 hurricane season in the Caribbean:
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