No communications with the Cayman Islands, Royal Navy to arrive Monday morning
Hurricane Ivan moving to the southwest of Grand Cayman on September
12, 2004. The eye of the storm was some 30 miles to the southwest of
the island, with sustained hurricane force winds of up to 155 mph
extending outwards 90 miles from the centre. NOAA - Visible Image
Sunday, September 12, 2004
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: According to
the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), just about all
communications with the Cayman islands ceased around 1:30 pm local time (2:30
pm EDT) Sunday. The Royal Navy patrol vessel, HMS Richmond, is en route to
Grand Cayman and is due to arrive there Monday morning. A Fleet Auxiliary
vessel is also en route and will arrive as soon as possible thereafter.
With the exception of occasional satellite phone reports, there is otherwise
no word coming out of Grand Cayman, as a result of cellular towers having
collapsed and landlines also being out of commission.
In his last communication to the FCO on Sunday afternoon, the Governor of the
Cayman Islands confirmed that the Islands had suffered extensive structural
damage from Hurricane Ivan but there have so far been no reports of any
casualties. The FCO said that it may be
several days before reliable telephone communications can be re-established.
According to other media reports, Donovan Ebanks, the deputy chairman of the
Cayman Islands National Hurricane Committee, has estimated that between 25 per
cent and 50 per cent of the 15,000 homes on the island of Grand Cayman have
suffered some damage.
Cayman Net News has received many requests
through our website from overseas residents for assistance in locating or
otherwise aiding family members or friends who may be in distress.
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to help at this time, given the
impossibility of communication. All we can do
is to post such requests to the website in the hope that we may be able to
provide a clearing house for information as and when communications begin to
improve. As predicted, widespread flooding
from the expected tidal surge was affecting a large part of the island. One
report of a house standing eight feet above normal sea level had water
ankle-deep inside. In lower-lying areas there have been reports of people
having to climb onto kitchen counters to escape the seas that came flooding
into their houses. At the offices of Cayman
Net News, a foot of floodwater had entered the building causing much damage.
The hurricane force winds have torn roofs off and reportedly devastated homes,
even in affluent, well-constructed neighbourhoods.
Vehicles parked in flood-prone areas are said to have “just disappeared.”
With many buildings, both residential and commercial, utilising septic tank
waste treatment systems, the widespread flooding is resulting in serious
health and sanitation concerns as overflowing sewage becomes mixed with the
flood waters. At the Cable & Wireless
emergency bunker at One Technology Place, a number of people were given
shelter after roofs blew off their houses.
Floodwater rushing through the ground floor apartments in at least one
condominium building in West Bay forced the occupants to flee for their own
safety to the floors above. There has been a
report that the Hyatt Regency hotel had to be evacuated, and another
unconfirmed report that the roof of the hotel had blown off.
All three islands are currently without any electricity, while water supplies
were shut down Saturday night for fear of contamination from broken mains.
Reports from the Sister Islands have been scarce, but it is understood that
many residents of Cayman Brac sought shelter in the caves on the Bluff, the
traditional refuge from hurricanes on that island.
Sky News in Britain carried live reports every hour from Cayman Net News
Publisher and Editor in Chief Desmond Seales, MBE, from the newspaper’s
offices in Allista Towers, in George Town, Grand Cayman.
According to Mr Seales, “This is a national disaster. Damage is likely to run
into the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.”
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