HURRICANE LENNY INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NO. 16B FOR 9 AM AST WED NOV 17


LENNY BECOMES A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR/SIMPSON HURRICANE
SCALE ... THE FIFTH OF THE SEASON ... NEARING THE NORTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN
ISLANDS ... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR PUERTO RICO AND THE
U.S. AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS. A HURRICANE WARNING IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR
DUTCH ST. MAARTEN ... FRENCH ST. MARTIN ... ST. BARTHELEMEY ... ANGUILLA
... SABA ... ST. EUSTATIUS ... ST. KITTS ... NEVIS ... MONTSERRAT ...
ANTIGUA ... AND BARBUDA.

AT 9 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME ... 1300Z ... THE CENTER OF HURRICANE LENNY WAS
NEAR LATITUDE 16.9 NORTH ... LONGITUDE 65.4 WEST OR ABOUT 115 MILES ... 185
KILOMETERS ... SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO. THIS IS ALSO ABOUT
70 MILES ... 110 KILOMETERS ... SOUTHWEST OF ST. CROIX.

LENNY IS MOVING TOWARD THE EAST-NORTHEAST NEAR 13 MPH ... 21 KILOMETERS PER
HOUR A GRADUAL TURN TO THE NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED TODAY. ON THIS TRACK ...
THE CORE OF POWERFUL HURRICANE LENNY WILL BE CROSSING THE WARNING AREA
LATER TODAY. WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO WORSEN OVER THE WARNING
AREA THIS MORNING.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 135 MPH ... 215 KILOMETERS
PER HOUR WITH HIGHER GUSTS ESPECIALLY OVER UNPROTECTED SOUTH AND WEST
FACING HARBORS. LENNY HAS BECOME A DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR/SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE ... THE FIFTH OF THE, 1999 SEASON. STRONGER
WINDS COULD BE EXPERIENCED IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS. SOME FURTHER STRENGTHENING
IS POSSIBLE TODAY.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES ... 95 KILOMETERS ...
FROM THE CENTER ... AND TROPICAL-STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 175
MILES ... 280 KILOMETERS. ST. CROIX HAS BEEN EXPERIENCING SUSTAINED
TROPICAL-STORM FORCE WINDS DURING THE PAST HOUR WITH A RECENT PEAK GUST OF
62 MPH ... 100 KPH AND SABA REPORTED A WIND GUST 48 MPH ... 77 KPH.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE
HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT WAS 948 MILLIBARS ... 27.99 INCHES.

RAINFALL TOTALS OF 10 TO 15 INCHES ... WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS IN
MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE HURRICANE. THESE RAINS CAN
PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES. SAN JUAN DOPPLER
RADAR SHOWS HEAVY RAINS CONTINUING TO SPREAD OVER PORTIONS OF PUERTO RICO
... THE VIRGIN ISLANDS ... AND THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE WARNING AREA.

STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 5 TO 8 FORT ABOVE NORMAL ... ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE
AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES ... IS EXPECTED NEAR THE CENTER IN THE WARNED
AREA.

REPEATING THE 9 A.M. ATLANTIC TIME POSITION ... 16.9 NORTH ... 65.4 WEST.
MOVEMENT TOWARD ... EAST-NORTHEAST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ...
135 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE ... 948 MILLIBARS.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 11
A.M. ATLANTIC TIME.

EMail Relay from Tortola

I just got an email message from St. Croix friends (phone still works...amazing) . The gist is:

Still raining heavily but winds have subsided. 150 MPH eye wall winds made landfall at Hess. Extensive tree damage, but not as bad as past hurricanes. West end heavily damaged and end of pier missing as a result of 20 ft. waves.

-- JimLane

It seems as though all we can do now is pray for everyone under the effects of Lenny!

God's Speed!

Want to know any information about Mike Walsh and family. His daughter and son-in-law have a little shop on the pier, is it okay? Daughter teaches at Good Hope School, is it okay? The fact that the phone worked in an above e-mail is very good news. Any info is appreciated, or sending them my thoughts and prayers is even better. Jane

St. Thomas Report at 9:20 pm AST. Report is by phone so service is up and running. Hard rain and strong gusts coming from the east. Power has just returned (feeder 7) has just returned. There are large 1-2 foot rocks in the roads near Mandahl. Flooding has occured in Mandel Circle. Curfew is still in affect until further notice. The wind has been fairly calm during the day but heavy rain last night. Lots of lightening and thunder last night. Damage reports are not being reported by the radio. Waiting to see what happens as the storm turns northward. Hopefully, it will be far enough east to avoid damage in St Thomas. I will report directly when the power surges subside and I can get out for observations. Radio reports no damage at Independent Boat Yard.

Trying to get in touch with Suzanne Shecher in St Thomas - but unable to reach her. If anyone reads this and knows her - please tell her to call us - we are really worried about her!! Steven and Paul

West End, Tortola, 5:45am.
Thunder, lightning and a great deal of wind, maybe 50 knots. Lefty Lenny
has arrived before the sun and he is very noisy and wet. I am unplugging
everything, the lightning is endless!

from your corespondent
@aol.com">aSail4U@aol.com

email relay from Tortola

Does anyone here know how Antigua is taking all this??

Please have Owen Kujala or Dan Saari (builders)
call Dan's Brother Tom in Minnesota to let Tom
Know what's Up. We are very Conserned.
Thank You Very Much.
Tom

I forgot to Mention that Owen and Dan in the
previous message are on St.John's Island.
Thank You.
Tom

If you talk to Barb Myers on Tortola, tell her that her friends in Flaorida are praying for her and to make sure that her and her family are OK. please check with Julie, Macklin and Gillian to see that they are ok, too.
God Bless and keep you
Sharon

I would welcome any information concerning hurricane conditions on Antigua, especially any damage to the Royal Antiguan, St. James's and Galley Bay hotels which I represent here in the U.S. (NY area). Many thanks, and hope all is well for those being pounded by the storm. Our prayers are with you, having just had our family's homes in The Bahamas destroyed by Hurricane Floyd!

Any news of St Martin? Have family, Andrea and Steve McCue staying at Nettles Bay Club..Any information coming out of the area?

TheQuislings

I'm looking for any new information on St. Croix re: damage, the status of the airport, shelters etc. Thanks 🙂

Hello from Anguilla.

This may be my last report so I will try to make it accurate
Wind is from ne to se around 100mph the center is very close to SMX we
expect the full force in the next hour or two.
Cap Juluca evacuated its guests and there are reports of damage from the
western side of the island.
I just returned from Crocus bay my restaurant is ok so far but the wind is
strenghening and the electric poles are beggining to lean to the west,this
will worsen as the ground gets saturated and when the wind veers to the
west I imagine lots of them will fall. So far some tree branches and some
telephone wires are down.
Reports from SMX tell of 15 foot swells hammering great bay
Most phones are out so I guess we will go soon although our cell phone is
still working ok 1 264 235 6248 land line is 1264 497 5242.

Once again thanks for your concern.

Roy
On a lighter note despite the storm Roys Place is still planning its Friday
night Happy Hour menu.
Hows that for optimism.
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