Hurricane: 500 000 could flee
2004-09-10 10:51
Montego Bay - Up to half a million Jamaicans may be evacuated from the path of Hurricane Ivan, which packed terrifying winds of 240km/h per hour as it crossed the southern Caribbean.
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Management on Thursday announced a partial evacuation of several communities in the Portmore area of St Catherine, two communities in Eastern Kingston-Port Royal and Harbour View and several low-lying coastal communities across the island.
Forecasters feared Ivan could be the worst natural catastrophe to hit the island in the past 50 years.
Jamaica has issued a hurricane warning for the densely populated island of 2.7 million, which was hit hard by Hurricane Charlie in 1959 and Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
29 people have died
At 03:00 the eye of the storm, which was downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, was about 465km south-east of Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.
Ivan has killed as many as 29 in Grenada, Tobago and Venezuela.
Over 1 000 shelters were identified across Jamaica including churches and school buildings, local media said, and persons in areas to be evacuated were asked to head for the shelters.
The government asked owners of private vehicles to use them to lessen the burden on public transportation.
Shelters were opened at 17:00 on Thursday.
Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson warned would-be looters not to cash in on the storm.
"I will not hesitate to invoke emergency powers should the situation so require and I have already got before me the precedence, which was used in 1988," following the Hurricane Gilbert.
Meanwhile Minister of National Security Peter Phillips told reporters that the army and police would be deployed to ensure order.
Hundreds have left
Patterson warned Jamaicans to take the situation seriously and pointed to damage done by Ivan in Grenada earlier this week.
Meanwhile hundreds of visitors left Jamaica island on Thursday, as Air Jamaica and United States carriers operated extra flights for foreigners who had flocked to airports.
The airport serving Kingston was closed late on Thursday and was tentatively set to be re-opened at noon on Saturday.
The deadly storm, which devastated Grenada, was moving toward the west-northwest near 21km/h, a track that was expected to continue for the next 24 hours, the centre said. On this track the hurricane will be nearing Jamaica on Friday, it added.
"Some fluctuations in intensity are expected during the next 24 hours," it also added.
- AFP