"FLASH: Could be unprecedented event for Jamaica; direct hit with 150 MPH sustained winds [topping Hurricane Gilbert's 135 MPH winds [Sept. 1988] and Charlie's 100 MPH winds in 1951]... Population of Jamaica is nearly 3 million people; and is 49th most densely-populated country in world... "
Pretty neat hurricane. You aren't going to see Houstonians leaving their city for this though.
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Sep. 22 2005 -
Thousands Fleeing Rita Jam Roads From Coast
Evacuation Is Ordered as Hurricane Veers Eastward
"GALVESTON, Tex., Sept. 22 -- As they joined a vast, traffic-snarled exodus from Houston and the upper Texas Gulf Coast, hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Hurricane Rita were stuck in their cars throughout much of Thursday, with many running out of gas and sweltering on roadsides in 100-degree heat as they waited for authorities to bring them gasoline.
But even as the mayor issued the warning that helped turn many of the freeways in and around the nation's fourth-largest city into a parking lot, the projected trajectory of Hurricane Rita shifted course, with its center moving eastward away from Houston."
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Yeah, I live in Austin, and people were literally stuck on the interstates for 2 days or more, in a gigantic traffic jam. It was really good for businesses in Austin however, because tons of people DID get here from Houston and bought a bunch of stuff. Suckas.
