http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8547218/In Jamaica, where evacuations of coastal areas were under way since Friday, people rushed to stock up on water, canned food and batteries for the second time this month.
Emily trails Hurricane Dennis, which killed at least 25 people in Haiti and 16 in Cuba last week. Thousands of Jamaicans who had refused to leave their homes were stranded by floods.
?I?m hoping that those who are in these areas will heed the call to evacuate before it?s too late,? Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill said on RJR radio.
The hurricane center in Miami warned Jamaica to expect hurricane-force winds along the coast and said the storm could dump up to 15 inches of rain in the mountains, where it could burst river banks and cause mudslides.
Grenada declared national disaster
Emily has made its presence felt from hundreds of miles away, unleashing heavy surf, gusty winds and torrential rains in all directions of the Caribbean in an unusually heavy storm so early in the Atlantic hurricane season.
Grenada ? still recovering from the devastation of last year?s Hurricane Ivan ? declared a national disaster Friday, a day after Emily?s winds tore up at least 100 homes, tore roofs from 2,000 more, destroyed crops and flooded scores of buildings. The storm was blamed for at least one death in Grenada ? that of a man whose home was buried under a landslide.
Emily?s winds had decreased to about 115 mph Friday evening after reaching a high of 135 mph earlier in the day. But it regained strength a few hours later, making it once again what U.S. meteorologist Stacy Stewart called a ?very rare Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean Sea in the month of July.?
