Hurricane Ivan smashes homes, floods Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Hurricane Ivan lashed Jamaica with monstrous waves, driving rain and winds nearing 155 mph (250 kph) early yesterday, and killed at least 11 people as it smashed away homes, ripped up roofs and utility poles but unexpectedly spared the island from a direct hit. Authorities in Grenada said they had discovered another eight bodies, raising the toll to 34 killed in Grenada and a total of 50 in the Caribbean. Dazed residents stood in the rain late Saturday morning and watched 25-foot (7.5-metre) waves crash onto beachfronts where a dozen houses once stood at Harbour View, just east of Kingston, the capital. Looters invaded homes for goods the hurricane did not destroy.

RJR Radio reported that a 10-year-old girl and a woman were killed. The girl drowned in Old Harbour, just east of Kingston, and the woman was struck by a tree that crashed into her Kingston home, said Ronald Jackson of Jamaica’s disaster relief agency. Police said three other people — a man, a woman and a baby — drowned in Clarendon parish, just west of Kingston, according to reports from residents. The man and woman died at the town of Portland Cottage and the baby in Rocky Point, they said. At least six other persons also died. Jamaica, an island of 2.6 million known for its beaches, reggae and Blue Mountain coffee, was saved the full brunt of Ivan’s fury by an unexpected wobble and lurch to the west. That could be good news for hurricane-weary Florida, since Ivan may now head into the Gulf of Mexico.