Ten-foot waves crashed ashore in Jamaica and hundreds of islanders fled flooded homes for shelters today as Hurricane Dennis lashed Caribbean coastlines with winds whipped up to 110 mph.

Hurricane Ivan slammed into Cuba’s sparsely populated western tip with the worst of its 160mph (257kph) eyewall, strengthened to a storm of catastrophic strength after it smashed giant waves on to Grand Cayman island and readied to attack the Gulf of Mexico and US oil interests.