Grand Cayman: ‘Devastation beyond imagination’
Monday, September 13, 2004
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: At 9 am
local time on Monday, as the first reports of the full extent of the damage
caused by Hurricane Ivan began to come in, the early morning scene has been
described as ‘devastation beyond imagination’.
Mariners Cove, an apartment building at Spotts on the south side of Grand
Cayman, has been blown down by the wind completely across the road, blocking
all traffic. Extensive damage has also been reported at Ocean Club, another
apartment complex in the same area. Just
about every house on the island has lost part or all of its roof, in some
cases the debris landing on the roofs of adjacent buildings.
Cars and boats have been swept by floodwaters into the roadways.
Some homes have been completely gutted by the wind and floodwater, with entire
contents being swept across the streets. In some houses it is possible to see
a high water mark on the walls, evidencing flooding of some 4 to 5 feet.
Whole sections and floors of some apartment buildings have completely
disappeared. Emergency services are
experiencing difficulties in responding to requests for assistance because of
communications difficulties. Some Cable & Wireless cellular phones are still
working sporadically; all other providers have lost service.
Cayman Net News reporters are currently trying to make their way around the
island to report on the damage at first hand and further details will be
published as soon as circumstances and communications permit.
In a separate report, local journalist Paulette Connolly said on Monday that
Hurricane Ivan ripped through the Cayman Islands tearing away homes and other
building like "match sticks". In a live
interview on Citadel Radio on Monday, Connolly said that there had been
reports of people being killed during the passage of the category five storm
that had trucks and cars "floating like toys".
"The winds ripped the apartments like match sticks, the whole island has taken
a battering. Cars and trucks were floating away like toys," she said, adding
that the storm had battered the island for more than eight hours on Sunday.
Connolly said that while there had been no official death toll, "residents
were calling the radio stations to report about deaths."
She said the authorities were on Monday using bulldozers and other heavy
equipment in a bid to clear roads that had been under 20 feet of water when
the waves rushed through the streets on the island.
"I don't know when the Cayman Islands will ever be like it was before, " she
said noting that the British Dependent Territory was now looking to Britain
for assistance in the aftermath of the hurricane that has killed at least 60
people during its passage through the Caribbean.
Connolly said that the buildings in the Cayman Islands, known internationally
for its banking system, had been constructed under strict building codes and
it was "indescribable" the manner in which the buildings were blown away.
She said that the hurricane shelters that were constructed to withstand winds
of more than 200 miles per hour had been badly damaged.
"It is unimaginable. We are devastated. The sea went through apartments," the
journalist, clearly emotional, said.
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