On Sunday 12 Sept 2004, Hurricane Ivan damaged the undersea cable that connects the Cayman Islands to Florida, disconnecting Cable & Wireless’ Internet connection to the Caymans, as illustrated in the animation.

Despite early news saying that Jamaica was also cut off, the same animation shows Jamaica connected all day. This is because the Jamaican node shown is on a different ISP and apparently a different undersea connection.

Observing the Internet directly can provide more information about some things than asking ISPs one by one.

-jsq