Delta as it touches down on the CJIA tarmac

The six hour delay of an early morning flight from JFK International Airport in the United States to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri yesterday is reportedly related to tropical storm Erika.

Reports reaching the Guyana Chronicle are that the flight which arrives at 7:30 hrs each day at Timehri did not touch down until 13:30h.

Erika is currently 100 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands, is moving to the west-northwest at 10 mph and reportedly has sustained winds of 40 mph with higher wind gusts. The National Hurricane Center of the United States warned that the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico should watch the storm closely as it develops.

Many islands along Erika’s path have received storm warnings, including Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius.

The National Hurricane Center five day forecast track for the storm has it passing over Puerto Rico today as a tropical storm but then gradually weakening. By the time it passes north of Haiti on Sunday, forecasters expect it would have have weakened to a tropical depression.