Satellite image showing Hurricane Dennis to the north of Jamaica yesterday at about 5:00 pm.

Hurricane Dennis yesterday veered north and spared Jamaica its heaviest winds, but pelted the island with thundering sheets of rain that caused significant flooding and pushed more than 2,000 people - mostly in the eastern parishes - into shelters.

Overnight Dennis, heading from the east south-east and developing into a category two hurricane, was bearing down on Jamaica, appearing that, at best, it would side-swipe the eastern shore of the island.

But the storm shifted further north, pulling away from Jamaica and by five o'clock yesterday it was 75 miles north of Port Antonio, the capital of the eastern parish of Portland, seeming intent on cutting a swath across central Cuba. It was travelling towards the north-east at 15 miles an hour.

Dennis was packing sustained winds of nearly 116 miles an hour and local weather experts forecast that it would strengthen further. Its hurricane force winds - 75 miles an hour and over - extended 47 miles from its centre while its tropical storm force winds - between 45/mph and 75/mph - extended more than 137 miles.

These two women seem to enjoy walking through the water from Hurricane Dennis in Walks Road, St Catherine yesterday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

In the scheme of things, especially when compared against the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Ivan last September, Jamaica, at early assessment, got off relatively light.

There were no reports of casualties, although some bridges were reported to have collapsed, many roads were impassable and at least one house, in Hall's Delight, St Andrew, gave way to the cascading waters and sliding land.

But even then, officials were warning last night that dangers still lurked for Jamaica from the hurricane. "Serious flash floods and landslides remain the main threat from the system as heavy rainfall and gusts up to hurricane force are expected to continue affecting Jamaica." the Meteorological Office said.

Last night, the Government's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) reported that nearly 1,000 persons were in shelters in St Thomas (500) and Portland (460), the two parishes that were initially in the path of the hurricane and the ones always likely to take the brunt of the storm. Rivers overflowed their banks, hillsides gave way and water reached into people's homes.

Another eastern parish, St Mary, had 55 persons in shelters.
The flood-prone parishes of Clarendon and St Catherine, in central and south central Jamaica, have 219 and 133 persons in shelters, respectively, while 76 sought refuge in shelters in the northwestern parish of St James.

ODPEM spokesperson Nadine Newsome said that flooding, and the effects of it, were always going to be the over-riding worry of the agency with the onset of Dennis.

"That is our main concern," she told the Observer. "We expected that it would be since the island had been experiencing rainfall for several weeks. So the soil was already saturated and flooding was expected from any additional rains."

While nature appeared to spare Jamaica its worst, it apparently provided criminals with a cover to engage in some of theirs.

In some areas of Kingston and Catherine, for example, there were reports of persons whose vehicles stalled on flooded roads being robbed.

In some cases, the Spanish Town police confirmed, individuals used their bodies to block the Old Harbour Road, forcing motorists to stop, setting them up for robberies.

Not even journalists out covering the impact of the hurricane escaped.

RJR Communications Group said that a crew from its Television Jamaica was held up at gunpoint on the Mandela Highway and robbed of a television camera and personal items.

For the most part, telephone and electricity services remained intact, unlike with previous hurricanes which knocked down utility poles, leaving large swaths of the island without power.

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