Trudy Simpson, Freelance Writer

HURRICANE IVAN, which lashed Barbados and several other Eastern Caribbean territories yesterday, is now on a path that is projected to take it directly over Jamaica.

At 4:00 p.m. yesterday, the centre of Hurricane Ivan was located about 35 kilometres west of Grenada or 1,670 kilometres east-south-east of Morant Point, Jamaica. It was expected to continue to strengthen and is continuing to move west near 30 km per hour. The strong category four hurricane is expected to reach Jamaica by Friday.

"There are no changes to Ivan's forecast track, which projects that the hurricane will move over the warm waters of the central Caribbean Sea on Wednesday (today) and Thursday (tomorrow) before crossing Jamaica on Friday on its way to the north-western Caribbean. This means that it is likely that the island could start experiencing a deterioration of weather conditions as early as Thursday night on this track," a release from the National Meteorological Service said.

However, the Met Service added that there is a possibility that the hurricane could shift its current path.

CURRENT PROJECTIONS

The current projections prompted the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to alert its parish disaster coordinators and shelter managers and other key stakeholders. ODPEM also issued a public advisory, asking Jamaicans to start making preparations to safeguard themselves.

"We are scheduling an initial briefing of the National Response Team for about 3:00 p.m. (today) to brief them on the current situation and give them enough time to activate their (parish) teams so all systems will be prepared," added Ronald Jackson, the ODPEM's acting deputy director.

In addition, the national airline, Air Jamaica, is warning that it may be forced to make additional changes to its flights as a result of Hurricane Ivan. A release from the airline yesterday said it will cancel today's flights heading into and out of Barbados, Grenada and Bonaire and will put measures in place to assist passengers whose travel plans may be affected by the hurricane. Air Jamaica also noted that passengers booked to travel to or from Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Bonaire and Curaçao from September 6 to 13 can change tickets without penalty.

Three people have been confirmed dead in Grenada, and the Emergency Operations Centre and the residence of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell were destroyed. The EOC is presently relocating and re-establishing communications.

(Additional reporting by Linda Hutchinson-Jafar in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Frances Kerry in Miami, Reuters and AP)

See related story in NEWS section.

Back to Lead Stories

Go-Jamaica | Jamaica Star | Go-Local Jamaica | Sports Jamaica | Letters to the Editor