Ivan targets Cuba after devastating Caymans

Hurricane Ivan pummelled the Cayman Islands with fierce winds that ripped off roofs and floodwaters that swamped homes, then strengthened to an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm as it headed for western Cuba today.

The hurricane, one of the strongest on record in the region, has killed at least 65 people across the Caribbean. About 1.3 million Cubans were evacuated from their homes, most taking refuge in the sturdier homes of relatives, co-workers or neighbours.

“It’s as bad as it can possibly get,” Justin Uzzell, 35, said from his fifth-floor refuge in an office building on Grand Cayman island. “It’s a horizontal blizzard,” he said, “The air is just foam.”

Ivan’s sustained winds weakened to 150 mph as they neared the wealthy British territory, then intensified early today as the hurricane headed for western Cuba with sustained winds nearing 160 mph.

Officials had yet to assess damage, but Donnie Ebanks, deputy chairman of the Cayman Islands’ National Hurricane Committee, estimated between one-fourth and half of the 15,000 homes in Grand Cayman suffered some damage.

Ivan was projected to pass near or over Cuba’s western end tonight. The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said the storm surge could reach 25 feet with dangerous, battering waves.

The Hurricane Centre said ham radio operators on Grand Cayman reported people standing on roofs because the sea had surged up to eight feet above normal tide levels.

While it was nearly a direct hit on Grand Cayman, the eye of the storm did not make landfall, passing instead over water just south of the island, said Rafael Mojica, a Hurricane Centre meteorologist.

Still, emergency officials said residents from all parts of the island reported blown-off roofs and flooded homes as Ivan’s shrieking winds and driving rain lashed Grand Cayman, the largest of three islands in the British territory of 45,000 people, a popular scuba diving destination and banking centre.

“We know there is damage and it is severe,” said Wes Emanuel of the Cayman Islands’ Government Information Service.

The airport runway was flooded and windows shattered in the control tower, Ebanks said. The winds tore off leaves and uprooted trees as high as three stories.

Though there were no immediate reports of injuries in the Cayman Islands, at least 15 were killed in Jamaica, and 39 in Grenada. Ivan also killed five people in Venezuela, one in Tobago, one in Barbados, and four children in the Dominican Republic.

After hitting Cuba, Ivan was projected to move into the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, nearing parts of Florida’s west coast still recovering from Hurricane Charley, on a path toward north-western Florida.

Mexico also issued a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning for the north-eastern Yucatan Peninsula, and hundreds abandoned fishing settlements on the nearby island of Holbox. The resort city of Cancun opened shelters and closed beaches.

While projections had the storm bypassing the Florida Keys, officials kept an evacuation order in place for the island chain’s 79,000 residents.

At 4am Irish time, Ivan’s eye was about 175 miles south-east of the western tip of Cuba. Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles and tropical storm-force winds out to 200 miles. Ivan was moving west-at nine mph

The Cayman Islands have stringent building codes that are strictly enforced, but Ivan’s raging winds shook the reinforced concrete building housing the hurricane committee at Owen Roberts International Airport, and flooding forced officials to evacuate the ground floor.

Ambulances were three feet underwater, Emanuel said. Flying debris tore off some storm shutters, and at least one resort lost its boat dock.

Hundreds left the Caymans on chartered flights before the hurricane came.

Officials reported 3,000 people filled shelters on Grand Cayman and about 750 were in shelters on Cayman Brac island. Hundreds in Cayman Brac fled to caves on high ground that historically have provided shelter from bad hurricanes.

Officials Royal navy ships were following Ivan and would bring aid to the Cayman Islands soon.

The hurricane – which Cubans are calling Ivan the Terrible”- is the most powerful storm to threaten Cuba since the 1959 triumph of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Jamaica was saved from a direct hit on Saturday but still suffered heavy damage from Ivan.

Waves were seen breaking more than 30 feet high in the north-western resort town of Negril yesterday, crashing over a seawall and the rooftops of hotel bungalows and restaurants, damaging many. Uprooted palm trees lay atop buildings and against walls, while armed security guards kept watch.

Jamaican police have killed two alleged looters, and four officers were wounded in shoot-outs with looters, officials said.

In Grenada, the main hospital has had several cases of diarrhoea and vomiting among people who drank contaminated water, said Samantha Dickson, of the Grenada Red Cross. Many Grenadians have been struggling to find clean drinking water.