Tropical Storm Sandy approaches hurricane status

This map shows the pathway of Tropical Storm Sandy as of October 23, 2012. / NOAA

Updated 6:35 p.m. ET

KINGSTON, Jamaica Jamaicans on Tuesday stocked up on supplies and reinforced roofs ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Sandy, which is expected to hit the island of posh resorts and sprawling shantytowns as a hurricane with lashing rain and wind.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the strengthening Sandy was churning over warm Caribbean waters and should reach Jamaica on Wednesday. The late season storm is expected to travel from south to north over the Caribbean country, which hasn't sustained a direct hit from a hurricane's eye since powerful Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Hurricane conditions were possible in eastern Cuba by Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, the outer bands of the approaching storm were already drenching parts of Jamaica with intermittent downpours that sent brown water rushing down streets and gullies. Tropical storm winds and sustained rains were expected in the evening.

• Tropical Storm Sandy to head towards Jamaica

In the poor Kingston community of Standpipe, Christopher "Boxer" Bryce and his relatives were bracing for the worst as they quickly tried to finish repairs to their concrete home's leaking roof.

"This is giving all of us a nervous feeling, old and young. I'm hoping the storm doesn't leave too many problems," said Bryce, as his brother Brian adjusted a plastic bucket to catch more of the water dripping steadily down from the cracked ceiling.

Across a debris-clogged gully, dreadlocked Philip Salmon was trying to find more sheet metal to bolster his shack's rusting roof. The laborer lives by himself in a ramshackle settlement of illegal homes just below the U.S. Embassy.

"Everybody's worried about it here, I can tell you. This storm is no small thing," said Salmon, whose sheet metal roof is held in place by rocks, just like that of many of his neighbors.

Two years ago, several members of a family living along a nearby stretch of the gully were swept away during Tropical Storm Nicole after part of their home collapsed into the waterway's raging current. People living in the shantytowns are warned repeatedly to move for their own safety but most refuse to relocate.

Jamaica's government issued a hurricane warning on Tuesday morning and announced schools would close on Wednesday. It has urged people in flood-prone areas to be on alert and advised fishermen on outlying cays to return to the mainland. It was not immediately clear if most people were heeding the message.

Some residents flocked to grocery stories to stock up on food, propane, tarp, batteries and water. At one major supermarket, hardly any bread remained on the shelves.

In Cuba, authorities issued a hurricane watch for several provinces, including Guantanamo in the extreme east, where authorities at the U.S. military base were trying to wrap up military commission hearings before the storm was felt.

Skies were largely overcast over Haiti, where a tropical storm warning was in effect. A tropical storm watch was called for the central and southeastern Bahamas, meaning stormy conditions were possibly within 48 hours.

In Jamaica, Sandy was expected to dump more than 10 inches of rainfall, especially over central and eastern parts of the island, according to the country's meteorological service. Flash flooding and landslides are likely on the mountainous island, Jamaican forecasters said.

Sandy's maximum sustained winds Tuesday evening were near 50 mph. It was moving north-northeast at about 6 mph (9 kph) and its center was about 260 miles south-southwest of Kingston by 5 p.m. EDT.

Storm surge was expected to raise water levels by as much as three feet above normal tide levels along Jamaica's southern and eastern coasts.

Sandy on Monday became the 18th named storm of this year's busy Atlantic season, which officially ends Nov. 30.

Meanwhile, a tropical depression in the Atlantic was expected to become a tropical storm later Tuesday. It does not pose any threat to land.

The depression's maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph. The depression is centered about 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) northeast of the Leeward Islands and is moving north-northeast near 15 mph.

[Ackeepeg]

I live in Jamaica but not in a shanty town or resort. It pisses me off when Journalist come to jamaica and pay people to take them into the worst parts of the country so they can get a story from the poorest people. 16.5% of our population are below the poverty line which is just 1.5% more than the US.

You and your boyfriend toured Jamaica looking for poverty rather than a "NORMAL" life. I saw GREAT poverty while visiting the US which makes me upset because your US reporters don't show this UNLESS its about BLACK AMERICANS.

Yes there are shanty towns (the projects in the US are just gloried versions of the same) but its NOT the entire Jamaica.

[Mangerine]

I am over here cracking up over "posh resorts and sprawling shanty towns"...seriously? who on earth wrote this piece? Have you taken a look at the entire country of Jamaica, because reading this article makes me want to go outside and look to make sure I still live where i thought i lived, if it were not for the rains from Sandy? I guess the 'other' folks like myself who don't reside in either the posh resort or the shanty town need not worry about the hurricane since apparently we don't exist. When will these people get it in their heads that there is more to Jamaica than posh resorts and shanty towns...

[sharonwhite8198]

I just made a visit to Jamaica last September with my then boyfriend Howard and I was expecting something far different than what I saw while visiting. Howard is a Jamaican native and I made the plans and reservations for the trip and we stayed in Montego Bay at a guesthouse, not a resort. I traveled the island with my boyfriend and I saw lots and lots of poverty. I did see strong black people making something out of nothing and their spirits were astounding! I enjoyed every moment of my visit there and I can home to the US with a different story and a different set of pictures that most US travelers return to their Homeland with...GOD HAVE MERCY ON THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND OF JAMAICA AS THEY EXPERIENCE PREDICTED WEATHER ISSUES!!