Hurricane Ivan

[Ozzy]

If the snippets of information I have been able to collect are accurate then my friends in Grand Cayman were hammered by Ivan. The tales of flooding and destruction defy belief. I just cannot imagine downtown George Town under water, let alone the airport runway. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this storm.

Ozzy

[Panama Jack]

Well said Ozzy. Hope you, your friends and family and colleagues at Cayman Airways are OK flufdriver.

Whenever I read about hurricanes hitting a region I remember my own experiences during the first and only hurricane I've experienced, Hurricane Mitch back in 1998.

Hurricane Mitch in October 1998 proved to be the fourth strongest hurricanes this century! As it developed in late October it became clear that this would be a quite exceptional event - and it became a H5 graded hurricane (Catastrophic!) before it hit the coast of Honduras with devastating power. At its height it delivered 25 inches of rainfall a day resulting in catastrophic flooding and mudslides across Honduras and Nicaragua. In one small area of Nicaragua, over 1000 people were feared dead when the slopes of Mount Casita, a volcano some 40 miles north of Managua, were washed away, flooding down on nearby villages.

The final death toll from Hurricane Mitch may well never be known - but could rise to over ten thousand.


Talk about a life changing experience. I like Florida, but because they seem to get clobbered on a regular basis I don't think I'd want to live there. :ouch:


Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (http://www.srcc.lsu.edu/OEP/hurr_scale.html)

Hurricane Ivan Closes in on Grand Cayman
Sep 12, 12:58 PM EST

http://webshots.yellowbrix.com/story_images/DEFAULT/20040912/XWA10309121541.jpg

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Hurricane Ivan closed in on the Cayman Islands with winds near 155 mph on Sunday, uprooting trees, bursting the banks of canals and flooding homes and an airport runway on the British territory.

Cuba braced to become the powerful storm's next target, while Floridians who already have suffered through two other hurricanes in less than a month were hopeful they would be spared the brunt of Ivan's fury.

Hurricane Ivan has been blamed for 56 deaths across the Caribbean so far since last week, including 34 in Grenada and 11 in Jamaica.

The hurricane, which had grown to the most powerful Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds on Saturday, lost some strength as it approached the wealthy Cayman Islands. The chain of islands is better set to withstand the punishment than earlier islands in the storm's path, since construction is stronger and building codes stricter.

Still, category 4 Ivan was capable of tremendous damage, and its 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.

"It's constructed to withstand this kind of thing, so that makes you concerned for buildings that are not as well constructed," Wes Emanuel said.

Ivan could make a direct hit Sunday afternoon on Grand Cayman - a popular offshore banking center and tourist destination and the largest of three islands that comprise the British territory of 45,000 people - the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The Cayman government announced Sunday morning that Grand Cayman already was "experiencing the most severe portion of Hurricane Ivan" with peak winds of 150 mph that were expected to continue for at least three hours.

Emergency officials were inundated with telephone reports of roofs blown off and flooded homes as Ivan's shrieking winds and driving rain approached Grand Cayman.

"We know there is damage and it is severe," Wes Emanuel of the Cayman Government Information Service said.

The airport runway was flooded by several feet of water, Radio Cayman went off the air, and trees three stories high were wrenched from their roots, including a giant Cayman mahogany next to the government headquarters in downtown George Town.

Ivan was projected to make a direct hit on western Cuba on Monday before moving into the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, nearing the Florida Keys and parts of Florida's Gulf coast.

A tropical storm watch was posted Sunday morning for the lower third of the 120-mile Florida Keys, from below Marathon through Key West and the Dry Tortugas. The watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours. Mandatory evacuation orders for tourists and 79,000 residents were in effect for the island chain.

"If God doesn't help us, I think this is going to be extremely tragic," said Maria del Carmen Boza, a 65-year-old resident of Cojimar, Cuba, a seaside community once frequented by Ernest Hemingway. "All of Cuba is worried. This looks like it's going to be really dangerous."

The storm stalked Jamaica's southern coast on Saturday, never directly hitting the island but pounding it with monstrous waves and torrential rains, and may do the same with the Caymans.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Ivan was centered about 30 miles southwest of Grand Cayman and George Town, the territory's capital. Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles and tropical storm-force winds another 175 miles. The storm was moving west-northwest near 9 mph and a turn to the northwest was expected in the next 12 to 24 hours.

The storm could dump up to 1 foot of rain, possibly causing flash floods and mud slides, according to the hurricane center. Maximum sustained winds were near 155 mph - just under the speed that would make it a Category 5 storm.

"We are looking at potentially catastrophic conditions," James Ryan, chairman of the Cayman Islands National Hurricane Committee said Saturday night. "We are in the path and we have to take every precaution at this stage to protect life and property."

Hundreds of people left the Caymans - many evacuated on charter flights - before the hurricane came and most of the 150 residents of Little Cayman were brought to the big island on Saturday.

The Cayman Islands have strong building codes that are strictly enforced, and there are no shanty towns or tin-roofed structures.

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

Flying debris hit shutters of some shelters, bashing open the door of one, which had to be propped closed. At least one beach resort lost its boat dock.

Among those in shelters on Grand Cayman was Maxine Hickson, a tourist from Texas evacuated from her hotel. She said she felt "a little scared but still pretty safe" and joked the hurricane would give her 13-month-old granddaughter "something to talk about when she gets older."

In Cuba, President Fidel Castro said his government had mobilized to save lives and property as the hurricane moved toward the western part of the island.

"This country is prepared to face this hurricane," Castro said Saturday night on state television.

National radio also exhorted Cubans to "put into practice the solidarity that characterizes our nation" by inviting neighbors in vulnerable homes to seek shelter in more stable buildings. More than 480,000 people across the communist island of 11.2 million were evacuated by Saturday evening, officials said.

Jamaica, an island of 2.6 million, was saved from a direct hit when the hurricane unexpectedly wobbled and lurched to the west on Saturday, but it still suffered heavy damage as 25-foot waves crashed onto beachfronts, destroying homes and toppling trees.

"Whatever our religion, faith or persuasions may be, we must give thanks," Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said in an address to the nation.

The Palisadoes Highway leading to Kingston airport was obstructed by sand dunes up to 5 feet high on Sunday.

Police killed two alleged looters and four officers were wounded in shootouts with armed looters, officials said.

Five people drowned or were struck by trees that crashed into their homes, said Ronald Jackson of Jamaica's disaster relief agency. Patterson said 11 people had been killed, but he did not elaborate.

Ivan also has killed five people in Venezuela, one in Tobago, one in Barbados, and four children in the Dominican Republic.

Ivan, the fourth major hurricane of the Atlantic season, damaged dozens of homes in Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent on Tuesday before making a direct hit on Grenada, which was left a wasteland of flattened houses. It also destroying nearly 100 houses and damaged hundreds more in impoverished Haiti.

---

Associated Press reporters Vanessa Arrington in Cojimar, Cuba; Stevenson Jacobs and Peter Prengaman in Jamaica contributed to this report.

That photo looks like an aircraft, maybe a Shorts or a Twin Otter on it's backside. :uhoh:

[BIG MISTER]

Hi

well I've been trying to get hold of my mates since Saturday but have had no luck.

Its funny how it was front page news a day ago but now David Beckhams kid's first day at school seems to be more news worthy !

Maybe if the kid gets the ****s and had a day off school we wont get to hear about the outbreak of WW3 ????

I have e-mailed the London Office of the Cayman Islands saying that I would be more than happy to go out there and help with the clear up + I co own a UK shipping company and have said that we are willing to help.

So far no answer so I hope things are going well for them !



:mad:

[Ozzy]

I concur with the lack of coverage by the media of the utter devastation caused by Ivan. From the first hand accounts posted on various web sites the place looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off. Yesterday over 25% of the island was under water, but that will be receding now. The island's goverment is planning on asking ex-pats to evacuate as there is not enough food and water on the island. From reports, it also appears the government is handling the situation extremely badly, playing down the seriousness of the situation and not providing information.

Ozzy

Edited to add a picture taken by the Royal Navy at GCM.

http://news.mod.uk/img/pressdatabase/images/supportingImages/large/cayman_ivan1_tn.jpg

[crack up]

Have had several requests for flights to MWCR. We can't get any information on rwy conditions of fuel availability. I understand that Cayman Brac might have services but I can't confirm.

These are utilities co's. and aid groups requests.

After personally experiencing a cat 3 on an island, I guarantee they will need all the help they can get.

If anyone has any contact information, please pm me.

Thanks

[seacue]

Ozzy,

I've just sent you a couple of PMs.

seacue

[Ozzy]

Thank you seacue, I just replied to your PMs.

Ozzy

[Ozzy]

Eye witness account of the aftermath:

Author: Greg Coogan (---.CandW.ky)
Date: 09-16-04 10:42

Having just returned from Grand Cayman, I can assure you that the damage is quite catastrophic. Many buildings lost roofs and a few walls, and what is worse, the sea seemed to cross the entire island so structures that were intact often were flooded ruining the drywall, and sometimes leaving an unpleasant slimey mud behind. I noted that previous readers reported the glass house as destroyed which is not true, and yes there are plenty of trees left standing, but they have no leaves, and virtually all of the Austrailian pine are down.

That said, I think that the loss of life has been minimal, so if you have loved ones you haven't contacted, you should be patient as it is likely due to the severe disruption of the communications system. I work for C&W and spent the hurricane in the switch, and I can assure you that all efforts are being made to restore services with supplies and new equipment on the ground and being redeployed. I am quite proud that the system stood and continued to function despite a disruption in the overseas cable, and the loss of several cell sites. Household phones will likely be down for some time as phone polls are nearly all gone. I understand the the Digicel switching station floated out to see, and was told that the AT&T network failed first. I was also told that Digicel is sending another switch from Jamaica, and I have no information on the restoration of services for AT&T.
Georgetown appears remarkably intact, although I suspect there is flood damage there. Most of the hotels on the island are completely uninhabitable, and I fear that stay over tourism is going to be nonexistant, although cruise ship traffic could return.
If you are overseas, and are looking to return, I urge you to wait. I left as I was deemed nonessential to the restoration of services, and anyone going in is going to be a burden on a very taxed and underresourced system. You can help by organizing relief and supplies, but there are no hotel rooms for you stay in, and food and water are scarce. I won't even comment on the lack of sanitary facilities, stifling heat, and what is sure to be a plague of mosquitos that will follow the storm.

I lived through Hurricane Andrew, and I think Ivan was more terrible. That said, I also know that the real trial starts when the winds stop. People will be faced with very miserable conditions that have no forseeable end, as it will be quite some time before basic services are restored. If you can aid getting your loved ones of the island, I can assure you that a hot shower and an icy beverage are their fantasies and those are a short plane ride away.

The people of Cayman are hearty and strong. They will handle this crisis well. They also are largely unprepared for this crisis, as over 75 years of good fortune have lulled them into complacency as storms are something that always seemed to happen in the Brac, but not Grand Cayman. I left four days after Ivan, and I can report not a single tarp on a roof, and I saw no private generators. Government also seemed shockingly unprepared as their headquarters was in a non-hurricane prepared facility, and what few private generators there were on the island they confiscated. The airport on my way out was chaos, with people left baking in the sun and no apparent plan or people organizing what could have been become a very unruly mob. Fortunately the best nature of people was on display as the masses seemed to be good spirited and civil.
The Grand Cayman that you know is gone forever. Many people will no doubt leave never to return, and it will be many years before it is an approximation of what it once was. But, the people of Cayman have a unique opportunity to start over with a clean slate, and I suspect the Cayman to come will be yet another testament to their foresight and vision. I look forward to that.

Greg Coogan


Here's another photo of the damage, this is the road into George Town:
Stingray Brewery Gift Shop (http://www.davidolson.com/Cayman/nfpicturepro/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=22)

Ozzy

[taluft]

Ivan has just left and now Hurricane Jeanne is on her way with Hurricane Karl developing in the mid-Atlantic. Jeanne is expected to achieve landfall somewhere between nothern Florida and the Carolinas by Wed 22 Sept. Bonny, Charlie, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl...what an action-packed month this has been.
T

[BIG MISTER]

http://www.caymannetnews.com/2004/09/739/looters.shtml

[Ozzy]

More pictures from GCM:

http://stormcarib.com/reports/2004/caymannetnews/IvanSpecial/index.cgi?16.jpg

Ozzy

[Panama Jack]

What I cannot fathom is how many owners choose to leave their aircraft parked in a place that is warned of being hit by a major Hurricane. :confused:

I heard that even Cayman Airways moved out their fleet from the Island, and another member mentioned that BWIA relocated their fleet into Guyana, South America. Plenty of options to fly to, even for a Cessna 172:

Cancun, Mexico-- 328 nm
Key West, Florida-- 315 nm
La Ceiba, Honduras 380 nm
Belize City, Belize 410 nm

Surely not that hard to find a ferry pilot if need be.