Orkan over Granada 9. September 2004

Vi bed negle da vi fik denne besked fra Trinidad:

Men vi kunne ånde lettet op efter denne meddelelse:

Ivan may be the worst hurricane to hit the region in a decade

A powerful hurricane has swept through the south-eastern Caribbean islands, killing at least 15 people and gaining strength as it heads towards Jamaica.

Hurricane Ivan is now travelling at 160mph (258km/h), making it a category five storm, the highest on the scale.

It has left scenes of devastation in the small island of Grenada where at least 12 people were killed.

Jamaica is expected to take a direct hit on Friday, with the hurricane reaching western Cuba at the weekend.

It is thought to be the worst hurricane to hit the Caribbean in a decade.

Map showing the hurricane's path

Grenada's Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell, whose official residence was destroyed, told the BBC the island was "90% devastated" and that he had declared a national disaster.

The capital St George's was hit by 125mph (200km/h) winds, flattening homes and disrupting power. The storm destroyed the city's emergency operations centre, the main prison, many schools, and damaged the main hospital.

In pictures: Hurricane Ivan

Mr Mitchell, who is now aboard a British naval patrol ship HMS Richmond, said the hurricane had caused "hundreds of millions of dollars of damage".

He said the country's key export crop, nutmeg, was likely to have "taken a tremendous hit".

There are conflicting reports of the total death toll from the storm, with the US State Department putting the number of dead at 20.

Authorities in Grenada have confirmed 12 deaths. Elsewhere, a pregnant woman was killed in Tobago, an elderly woman died in Barbados and one person was killed on the Venezuelan coast.

Direct hit

Most of the damage was inflicted on Grenada on Tuesday, but downed communications meant it has taken time for the news to filter out.

The BBC Caribbean service's reporter in St George's, Michael Bascombe, said the hurricane was the worst in living memory - worse than Hurricane Janet, which wrecked the island in 1955.

Several inmates escaped from the island's 17th Century prison during the storm. They are believed to include some of the politicians involved in the left-wing coup that prompted the US to invade Grenada in 1983.

Looting is reported to be widespread. American students in St George's University told the Associated Press news agency they felt unsafe and had armed themselves against looters with knives, sticks and pepper spray.

A United Nations disaster team is reported to be on its way to the island.

Before hitting Grenada, the hurricane brought down trees and power lines and blew off roofs in Barbados and Tobago.

Storm warnings had also been issued for the Dutch islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, but reports now suggest the islands have largely been spared.

The hurricane is projected to hit Florida on Monday. It would be the third major storm to strike the US state this summer.

PREDICTED PATH OF HURRICANE IVAN

 

Ivan - Eyewitness Account

 - "Sakset" fra NoonSite.com

Two days ago Hurricane Ivan(cat 4) hit us with 140 mile an hour winds with the eye passing over southern Grenada. It has been 50 years since there has been a hurricane in Grenada and for insurance purposes it is considered a non-hurricane zone that people are encouraged to go to for the hurricane season. NEVER has there even been a Category 3 Hurricane this far south.

We had been watching it for quite some time and kept hoping, and anticipating it to take a turn north, the way most good hurricanes do. This one would go north, but then dip south again. The end result was that instead of passing over Martinique it came here.

The two Marinas that Grenada has, are no more, Martins Marina and Clarks Court are destroyed - totally. Spice Island Boatyard had 156 boats topple over that were stored on land. I have not heard from St Davids but understand it was the same there.

We are normally anchored in Prickly Bay but when I realized this thing was not heading north the way I wanted to we moved around to Clarks Court Bay which is a lot more protected. As we heard the thing was increasing in strength we made the decision not to stay on board and with a group of others checked into a hotel - and waited. At 2pm it came and lasted for FOUR hours, incredible. We watched the houses around us lose their roofs. Then the floor above us lost its roof. We ran around to a conference room that had very few windows and one side was built into the hill we were on. Then we watched the radio tower go down, one of two a couple of hundred feet high.

We lost the lights right at the beginning and sat thru the night - trying to get some sleep but all worried about our boats.

The next morning we walked from our hotel near the Spiceland Mall all the way to Clark's Court. It took us thru a lot of residential areas - all of them were without roofs, no lights, no water - a true war zone. There was not a cop to be seen, no military, no radio stations telling people what to do, where to go, nothing. They were ill prepared for anything like this. There are emergency procedures but no one practices them nor is it taken seriously.

Anyway when we got to the Marina we were all devastated - there were no docks left, boats piled on the rocks, mangroves, and yes, literally sunk. The Marina is a total loss, both Piers gone and boats piled on top of each other. Horrible. On the island there is no water, no electricity, no law enforcement, nothing. Also there is no phone service, including cell phones. Satellite Phones have been the only way - along with SSB and Ham.

Her er et link med flere informationer om orkanen Ivan: http://www.noonsite.com/General/Weather/HurricaneIvan