Hurricane Gonzalo was moving through the Caribbean Tuesday morning as a Category 2 storm, disrupting travel across the region, causing structural damage to homes in Antigua and causing the disappearance of five people.
Those five people were said to be aboard boats off the coast of Martinique that either ran aground or were sent drifting into the ocean due to Gonzalo. Search crews from Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Maarten were scouring the coasts and ocean looking for the missing people, but it wasn't immediately clear exactly where they went missing.
Hundreds of power outages were reported on the north coast of Puerto Rico, but the U.S. territory escaped major damage because Gonzalo's eyewall remained miles off the coast as it passed by.
Antigua and the Leeward Islands took the brunt of the storm on Monday, when Gonzalo was still a Tropical Storm, downing trees, ripping roofs off of homes and causing at least 12 minor injuries on the island nation of around 80,000 people.
Winds, which gusted up to 88 mph, damaged a luxury hotel on the west coast of Antigua, tourists told The Weather Channel.
"The walls blew off. A tree landed on our room. We were shaking hiding in our closet, " said Alexis Sherry of New York City, who is staying at Hermitage Bay resort with her husband, Jason Savage. "I thought we were going to die."
Sherrod James, Antigua's deputy director of the National Office of Disaster Services, said the agency has received reports of damaged homes but no injuries or deaths from the storm.
According to the Associated Press, Gonzalo damaged many homes, including that of 36-year-old teacher Condell Maurice.
"You should have seen us with our buckets, jugs and bowls trying to chase down those leaks," Maurice told the Associated Press. Power outages were reported across the island and four emergency shelters were opened.
Schools and government offices were not only closed across Antigua, but also in the British Virgin Islands, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean News Now reports. El Vocero reports that public schools were canceled in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on the east coast of the island, in advance of Gonzalo. Classes were also canceled at the University of Puerto Rico's Humacao campus, the paper reports.
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Gonzalo disrupted travel across the Caribbean, canceling or disrupting scheduled ferry services, flights and cruises. Ferries were docked or disrupted in the British Virgin Islands Monday, according to British Virgin Island News, and early flights out of the island Tuesday by local airline Seaborne were canceled in advance of the storm.
Regional airline LIAT also canceled flights across the Caribbean on Monday, including some to Curacao and St. Maarten, Caribbean News Now notes.
Gonzalo forecasts also prompted cruise ship companies to tweak itineraries.
- Carnival Cruise Lines' Breeze ship canceled a visit in La Romana, Dominican Republic and its Liberty and Conquest vessels switched to western Caribbean ports to avoid the storm.
- Disney Cruise Lines said the Disney Magic cruise ship rearranged its schedule Monday, stopping at the same Caribbean ports, just in a different order.
- Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas bypassed a scheduled stop in St. Maarten on Monday and headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Tune-in to The Weather Channel TV network to watch live coverage on the severe weather outbreak and Hurricane Gonzalo. To keep you safe and informed of the latest breaking news, our regular programming will be suspended until the threat has passed.
