Tourists track Hurricane Dean via WiFi
 

By : Philippe Naughton

Yesterday morning, the resort was evacuated and its 220 remaining
guests - quite a few American tourists had already flown home - were
transferred to the conference centre inland. The storm began to whip
up at around 6pm, by which time wireless internet access had been
lost, and hit its peak some three hours later.

Speaking at around 5am local time, Mr Susskind said: "I think the
feeling around here appears to be more of relief than anything else.
There were lots of trees falling down but it's completely still now,
eerily so in fact.

While Jamaicans battened down the hatches for the arrival of Hurricane
Dean, European tourists taking shelter in a concrete conference centre
were able to track its progress on their laptops as it spiralled
towards the island.

Richard Susskind, a lawyer and IT expert who is also a Times
columnist, told today how he and dozens of others used the wireless
access at the Half Moon resort near Montego Bay to read all about Dean
on the American website Hurricane.com. For news and updates on of
VoIP you can have a look at : www.knowingabout.com/voip.

"It was striking how everyone was wondering around sounding very
authoritative," he told Times Online. "But this is quite a prosperous
place and people were just accessing the web on their laptops."

Montego Bay is on Jamaica's north coast and therefore escaped the
worst of the season's first hurricane, which blasted past the south of
the island, sending winds of up to 150mph slamming into Kingston, the
capital. But it still brought down trees and covered roads in debris.

Mr Susskind arrived in Montego Bay on Friday with his wife, two
teenaged sons and 12-year-old daughter. The first inkling they had of
an impending storm was when they read about it in Jamaican newspapers
on the airplane over - although it was not yet clear which way it was
headed.

Yesterday morning, the resort was evacuated and its 220 remaining
guests - quite a few American tourists had already flown home - were
transferred to the conference centre inland. The storm began to whip
up at around 6pm, by which time wireless internet access had been
lost, and hit its peak some three hours later.

For news and updates on WiMax logon to : www.knowingabout.com/wimax.
Speaking at around 5am local time, Mr Susskind said: "I think the
feeling around here appears to be more of relief than anything else.
There were lots of trees falling down but it's completely still now,
eerily so in fact.

"Dawn is beginning to break and although the roads are completely
covered in debris from the trees, there is no sign of any radical
damage."

He added: "In my room, there are about a hundred sun lounger
mattresses laid out head-to-toe. Everyone's been amazingly well
behaved. They've even had a no-alcohol rule, which made me smile.

"There's going to be some kind of advance party, police and military,
to look at the state of the resort and then I think they will make an
announcement after breakfast.

"What I've been most impressed by is the Jamaican people looking after
us. They've obviously got families of their own living nearby but
they've managed to look after us really well - not quite as laid back
as normal, perhaps, but incredibly supportive.

"It's been a curious experience for us all, a bit of an adventure. And
weatherwise, things can only get better."

Source : http://www.knowingabout.com/wifi