Hurricane Relief Efforts

Red Cross Prepares Response 
for Third Hurricane 

Written by Bonnie Gillespie, Staff Writer 
and Photographer, RedCross.org

Thursday, September 09, 2004 — 
Mandatory evacuations have sent thousands 
fleeing the Florida Keys and other southern coastal communities, as the third hurricane in less than a month roars toward the Sunshine State. 

Massive Hurricane Ivan plowed through Grenada 
on Sept. 8, leveling 90 percent of the homes and businesses in the island community and killing at least 25 people.

Having now dropped to a Category 4 storm from Category 5 status, Ivan is still the most powerful hurricane to hit the Caribbean in 10 years. Dubbed “Ivan the Terrible” by forecasters, the swirling monster continues its march toward Jamaica, packing sustained winds of 145 mph.

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The long-range forecast, which is subject to change, had Ivan reaching Cuba, the largest Caribbean island nation, by Sunday, and Florida 
on Monday. If Ivan keeps its projected course toward Florida, the state would face a storm that combines the worst of hurricanes Charley and Frances.

Forecasts call for it to be nearly as powerful as Hurricane Charley's 145 mph winds when it nears the state, and though smaller, would still have some of the sprawling size of Hurricane Frances, with tropical storm winds reaching far enough to cover the entire peninsula.

Charley's destructive force was concentrated in a narrow ring around the eye; it has been likened to a tornado 10 miles wide. Ivan's most destructive winds easily could be twice as wide. Frances didn't have winds that packed that punch, but its inchworm pace across the state left 6 to 8 inches of rain everywhere in its wake.

Details on the extent of the death and destruction in Grenada are still emerging because the storm cut all communications with the country of 100,000 people and halted radio transmissions. But early reports indicate devastation “beyond imagination,” according to Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell.

Ivan killed 13 people in Grenada, one in Tobago, four in Venezuela, a Canadian woman in Barbados and four youngsters in the Dominican Republic swept away by a giant wave Thursday (Sept. 9).

Hurricane Ivan’s rampage through the Caribbean began on Tuesday, when it passed south of the island of Barbados as a Category 3 storm, packing winds of up to 90 mph that damaged homes and disrupted utilities. Similar destruction was left on the islands of Tobago and Saint Vincent before growing into a Category 4 system as it passed directly over Grenada.