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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Bahamas Information Services Updates
NASSAU, The Bahamas - The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, held its regular monthly meeting Friday, September 30, 2016. However, this time focusing on preparing for Hurricane Matthew, which is expected to impact the country early next week. All representatives of Emergency Support Function groupings were present to report on their level of preparedness, in the event Hurricane Matthew remains on its present course. Meanwhile, News Item from the Department of Meteorology issued at 12 noon Friday states that Matthew is strengthening to a major hurricane while moving west southwestward over the Caribbean Sea. At 11:00 a.m. the center of Hurricane Matthew was located near latitude 13.7 north and longitude 70.8° west or about 105 miles northeast of Punta Gallinas, Colombia and 495 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. Matthew is moving toward the west-southwest near 12 miles per hour. A westward motion at a slower forward speed is expected later today and tonight. A turn toward the west-northwest is forecast by Saturday night, followed by a turn toward the northwest by early Sunday.
On the forecast track, the center of Matthew will pass north of the Guajira Peninsula later today and tonight and remain over the central Caribbean Sea through early Sunday. Maximum sustained winds are near 115 miles per hour with higher gusts. Matthew is a Category 3 Hurricane on the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours. Residents across the entire Bahamas are being urged to closely monitor the progress of this system. The Bahamas is facing Hurricane Matthew; about one year after the islands in the Southeast and Central Bahamas continues to recover from the Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin, which struck last October.
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