Killer Ivan leaves Grenada devastated

Hurricane Ivan took aim Thursday at Jamaica after killing 23 people in five countries and devastating Grenada, where police fired tear gas to stop a looting frenzy and frightened students armed themselves with knives and sticks.

Ivan, the deadliest hurricane to hit the Caribbean in a decade, pummeled Grenada, Barbados and other southern islands Tuesday. It was expected to hit Jamaica, where officials urged 500,000 people to evacuate coastal and flood-prone areas today.

The dead included four youngsters in the capital of the Dominican Republic who were swept away by a giant wave Thursday even though the storm was nearly 200 miles from land.

The storm left its worst damage in Grenada, where 13 people died. From the air, it appeared that nearly every house had been ripped up. Hunks of twisted metal and splintered wood torn from homes were strewn across the hillsides and roads of this country of 100,000 people. Many trees were snapped off, and those left standing were stripped of their leaves.

In St. George’s, Grenada’s capital, police fired tear gas to try to stop a looting frenzy. Hundreds of people, including entire families with children, smashed hurricane shutters and shop windows to take televisions and shopping carts of food.

Officials were considering evacuating the 1,000 American citizens in Grenada, mostly university students who said they want to leave. Troops from other Caribbean nations were on the way to help restore order.

Thursday afternoon, police set up barricades on roads leading into the capital and ordered all but emergency personnel off the streets. Hundreds of screaming and shoving people said they had to get to town to buy water and food.

Among them was Dawn Brown, 30, who said she and her children ran from room to room in her home as Ivan ripped off sections of their roof. Eventually, the house was left roofless, and the family hid beneath a mattress as Ivan’s 130-mph winds howled around them.

The island has had no running water since Monday.

The first shipment of emergency relief arrived Thursday from the United States, which declared Grenada a disaster area to allow the immediate release of $50,000.

Residents of Cuba prepared to face what could be their most devastating storm in 80 years. On Thursday, Cuba’s National Civil Defense wasted no time in beginning evacuations from central Camaguey province east toward Santiago.

In Jamaica, hundreds of tourists packed the airport of Montego Bay resort.

“We were going to stick it out, but the company I work for told everybody to evacuate,” said Dennis Hennessey, 39, a building contractor from Essex Junction, Vt., who was helping build the new U.S. Embassy.

“They say Jamaica is a blessed place, and I hope it is,” he said.

Vanessa Bauzá, a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper, contributed to this report.