Photos can be seen at www.caymanweather.net/crewe/paloma
max sustained winds were measured at 115mph with gusts to 135+
Thanks Roger.
It always amazes me that the houses just seem to fall apart, why aren’t they brick built with slate or tiled roofs?
Here on the island in Jan 2004 we had a storm with winds nearing 90mph & gusts up to 128mph and the houses, mainly, just lost a few roof tiles.
Glad you’re all safe anyway and thanks for the photos. 
A night when I came to really appreciate the value of “sarking[1]”!
Without the sarking instead of loosing half the ridge tiles plus about 50 slope tiles close to the ridge, the wind would have got into the loft space through the initial hole and then ripped the lot off. The rain would then have caused extensive water damage throughout the house. With the sarking there I was able to contain the water that did leak through by spreading plastic sheets to form temporary ponds!
[1] Sarking is an all over layer timber boards or sheets, added over the main roof structure before the felt, lats and tiles are added. It’s a standard part of building construction in Scotland.
Budgie,
It has interested me that there seems to be a difference between the destructive force of winds from a hurricane when compared with hurricane force winds. In the many tests done it has been proved that slate or tile roofs do not stand up well to flying debris so they generally do not comply with current building code.
Hurricane Ivan demonstrated to us that the buildings that were constructed to code developed since hurricane Andrew survived much better than those built prior using the minimum standards. Our Government finally developed a backbone after hurricane Ivan and started enforcing building standards but there are still many buildings built prior to Ivan.
I guess it all gets back to the story of the three little pigs and the wolf.
Roger
It’s good that the government are coming round now then. Sadly there seems to be quite a lot of firewood around though, judging by your photos.
Our slates are fixed with two nails at the top edge and a pin in the centre of the bottom edge to stop it from lifting. The slates also have a 5" overlap to stop the rain from being forced up & over the top edge.
A local double glazing company on the island also design their windows for the weather we get. The main frame has a slight outwards bow to it so that strong winds just push it straight and all the glass is put in from outside, instead of the inside as they do further South, so that the seals around the glass work better the stronger the wind blows.
Most of the houses here are single story as well, no trees to break up the effects of the wind. 
remember though that wind strength is a square function (F=ma2)
i.e the increased destuctive force of average speeds of 115mph is alot more than just 115-90 (compared to average speed of 90mph)
Very few unscathed properties in those photographs. I’m glad you were safe!
I was lucky this time as Cayman Brac is about 75 miles away and there was no loss of life or major injury which is surprising.
We have a 10’ wide 6’ tall SW facing lounge window with mullions either side the middle 6’ portion, and a horizontal at ~18". The general arrangement is approx like this ASCII sketch
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Even though it was manufactured by a Highland firm that knows the local conditions, after the 1st winter we had a friend who is a double glazing fitter add extra reinforcing (50mm square alu tube) to the mullions. Without that extra reinforcing, in a strong wind there was >25mm of movement in the middle of the horizontal bar!
I have a 2 year old willow wind break coming along in front of the house. If you want some willow slips, I should have plenty available come Spring - should you care to collect!
There’s a slight irony that I want a good clear run of wind for the anemometer, but at the same time am growing a windbreak, however part of the idea is that the windbreak is regularly pollarded so it should not get too tall, and the windbreak is away from the anemometer anyway.
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