500,000 told to evacuate homes in Jamaica

Around half a million people were urged to evacuate their homes in coastal areas of Jamaica today as Hurricane Ivan bore down creating panic in its projected path.

US officials ordered people to evacuate the Florida Keys and were also considering evacuating the 1,000 US citizens in Grenada, most university students who said they want to leave.

As Ivan bore down on Jamaica riling up monstrous waves with its ferocious winds, Prime Minister PJ Patterson urged people in danger to get to shelters.

“All of us are continuing to hope and pray that by some miracle we may at the last minute be spared the worst,” Mr Patterson told a news conference.

Barbara Carby, head of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, told the conference that 500,000 people needed to evacuate.