Hurricane winds head for Caymans and Cuba

Millions more people are in its path, with the Category Four hurricane projected to go between the Cayman Islands, make a direct hit on Cuba and then either move into the Gulf of Mexico or hit South Florida.

Cuban President Fidel Castro went on state television to try and assure people. “This country is prepared to face this hurricane,” Castro said, adding that his government had mobilised to save lives and property.

Ivan weakened slightly early today as maximum sustained winds decreased from 165 mph to near 155 mph, just below the speed defining a Category Five hurricane – the most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

But forecasters said fluctuations in strength were “likely” over the next 24 hours and warned that the storm could again intensify from Category Four to Category Five.

The storm could dump up to 30 centimetres of rain, possibly causing flash floods and mud slides, the Hurricane Centre said.

Jamaica, an island of 2.6 million, was saved from a direct hit when the hurricane unexpectedly wobbled and lurched to the west.

Jamaica was ravaged by winds just below 155 mph.

“Mercifully, we were spared a direct hit and whatever our religion, faith or persuasions may be, we must give thanks,” Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson said in an address to the nation.

East of the capital Kingston, dazed survivors stood in the rain and watched 25-foot waves crash onto beachfronts where a dozen houses used to stand at Harbour View.

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.

Ivan has also been blamed for the deaths of five people in Venezuela, one in Tobago, one in Barbados, and four children in the Dominican Republic.

Forecasters warned that Ivan could strike Florida, where buildings in the Keys were mostly boarded up, deserted by evacuating residents and tourists. Ivan is approaching hard on the heels of hurricanes Charley and Frances.

In the wealthy Cayman Islands and in Cuba, people prepared for the worst.

Hundreds of Caymanians fled aboard 10 charter flights scheduled for an evacuation.

On Saturday, most of the 150 residents of Little Cayman evacuated to Grand Cayman, and about 755 people on Cayman Brac – more than half the population - and more than 600 people on the main Grand Cayman island moved into shelters, officials reported.

The British territory has about 45,000 residents.

Cuba has upgraded a hurricane watch to a warning for the threatened western part of the island.

More than 480,000 people across the island of 11.2 million were evacuated by Saturday evening.

Jamaica had not been hit by a major storm since Hurricane Gilbert struck in 1988, killing dozens of people and inflicting massive damages as a Category Three storm.

In Montego Bay, disaster relief officials said it was too dangerous to assess the damage, but dozens of people had reported roofs torn from their homes.

“Things are still flying in the air,” disaster relief co-ordinator Faye Headley said.

Hundreds of stranded tourists were relieved at being relatively spared by Ivan.

“We are so lucky,” said Petra Hauser, 35, of Aarau, Switzerland, who spent two days in a hotel lobby.

Ivan, the fourth major hurricane of the Atlantic season, damaged dozens of homes in Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent last week before making a direct hit on Grenada, which was left a wasteland of flattened houses.