Global Warming Powered
Ivan Hits Hard
By Chris Bunting
11 September 2004
The Independet
Towering waves the height of two storey buildings and winds of more
than 100mph announced the arrival of Hurricane Ivan in Jamaica last
night.
On the coastal Palisadoes
Highway, near the capital Kingston's airport, 23-foot waves crashed
to shore, thrusting rocks and dead tree branches more than 100 feet
onto the road.
Residents were bracing
themselves for even stronger winds reaching up to 150mph as the storm,
the most powerful to have hit the Caribbean in a decade, sweeps across
the densely populated island.
"I've lived
here all my life and I've never seen anything like this," said
businessman Chester Pinnock. "This is going to be disastrous, we
could have hundreds dead. Hurricane Gilbert was a puppy compared to
this." Gilbert killed dozens of Jamaicans and devastated the island
when it struck in 1988.
Half a million people
were told to flee the coast of Jamaica yesterday as Hurricane Ivan approached.
About 2,600 British
holidaymakers were evacuated in a last-minute airlift, but about 850
chose, or were forced through circumstance, to stay as Ivan's deadly
150 mph winds ripped across the region.
The storm has already
left the island of Grenada a wasteland of snapped trees, twisted metal
and flattened buildings. Ninety per cent of homes were severely damaged.
Police said 29 people, including two unidentified foreign yachtsmen,
had died when the storm ravaged the island on Tuesday.
Across the Caribbean,
the death toll rose to 33 yesterday. It was expected to increase as
Kingston, Jamaica's sprawling capital of 1 million, endured a direct
hit from the storm.
In Haiti, the storm's
fringes forced piles of sand and water, up to knee-high, into the seaside
neighbourhoods of Les Cayes, a city of 300,000 on the south-west peninsula.
Hundreds of residents sheltered in schools and churches.
Cuba declared a
nationwide hurricane watch after its leader, Fidel Castro, went on national
television warning resi- dents to brace themselves. "Whatever the
hurricane does, we will all work together" to rebuild, he said.
In South Florida,
there were queues at petrol stations and supermarkets were packed with
shoppers preparing for the storm's expected arrival on Monday.
The Royal Navy's
HMS Richmond and the British supply ship RFA Wave Ruler were last night
heading for Jamaica and Grand Cayman after helping in the aftermath
of the storm on Grenada.
Commander Mike McCartain,
on HMS Richmond, said: "We've just been tasked by our fleet headquarters
for HMS Richmond and RFA Wave Ruler to proceed at best speed to Jamaica
and prepare for contingency operations there. I need to fly in to the
island to discuss various issues with the authorities ashore."
He added: "We'll
position ourselves quite wisely with respect to the hurricane. We'll
be chasing it ostensibly up to the north-west across the Caribbean Sea,
so we shouldn't be too affected by it."
A last-minute rescue
effort by travel companies had earlier plucked thousands of tourists
out of the path of the storm before it hit Jamaica. Frances Tuke, a
spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents, said: "Tour
companies were able to arrange accommodation in the north of the Dominican
Republic and people moved from Jamaica seemed pretty pleased to be able
to escape from the hurricane.
"There are
about 850 Britons who have chosen to stay on. They are being directed
to emergency centres."
Those left on the
island included people who were unable to safely take the rescue flights.
One diver was unable to recover from a strenuous dive in time to flee.
British Airways
and Air Jamaica cancelled their London-Jamaica services for today.
There were 25 British
holidaymakers known to be on Grand Cayman and plans were also in place
to evacuate them.
The UK tour operator
MyTravel sent two rescue flights to Cuba to bring scores of its clients
home via Toronto.
Ms Tuke said there
were more than 3,000 British holidaymakers on Cuba and that there were
plans to transport them across the island to Holguin on the east coast.
"It's thought that Ivan will only touch part of Cuba and that Holguin
will escape the worst," she said.
Ivan may then hit
Florida, which has already suffered from two hurricanes, Charley and
Frances, this season.
Some relatives of
British people caught in the destruction in Grenada have still heard
nothing about their fate. Angela Peters, whose mother Isabel Marsh-Peters
was visiting a family property on Grenada when the storm hit, said she
had got no information from the Foreign Office.
"The last anyone
heard from her was during the evacuation before the storm. For three
days now, we have heard nothing. Her mobile and the landline are not
answering," she said.
"When I contact
the Foreign Office they don't even have the information they are showing
us on the television. They told me to ring the British embassy in Grenada,
but they know the phone lines are down," Ms Peters said.