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Fla. Urges New Evacuations As Ivan Nears

Posted on: Thursday, 9 September 2004, 06:00 CDT

KEY WEST, Fla. - All tourists and recreational vehicles were urged to evacuate the Florida Keys early Thursday because the powerful Hurricane Ivan could hit the island chain by Sunday. Ivan became a Category 5 hurricane overnight with winds up to 160 mph.

Forecasters say it could continue to strengthen as it moves toward Jamaica, where it is expected to make landfall Friday or Saturday before heading on to Cuba and then possibly Florida. At 8 a.m. EDT, Ivan's center was about 455 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, or about 1,000 miles southeast of Miami.

National Hurricane Center forecasters predict that Ivan could hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 131 to 155 mph, late Sunday or early Monday.

"I don't think that people will think twice when we tell them it's a Four heading right at us. I think they will be pretty responsive," said Monroe County emergency manager Irene Toner.

Monroe County emergency officials said the order was effective at 9 a.m. Thursday. It is the third visitor evacuation ordered in the Keys in a month, the previous two coming for Hurricanes Charley and Frances.

Ivan pummeled Grenada, Barbados and other islands with its devastating winds and rains, causing at least 15 deaths, before setting a direct course for Jamaica, Cuba and the hurricane-weary southern United States.

The most powerful hurricane to hit the Caribbean in 10 years damaged 90 percent of the homes in Grenada and destroyed a 17th century stone prison that left criminals on the loose as looting erupted, officials said Wednesday.

The storm's howling winds and drenching rains also flooded parts of Venezuela's north coast. Helicopter charter companies were busy Wednesday ferrying evacuated workers back to offshore oil drilling platforms there.

"After Jamaica, it's probably going to hit somewhere in the U.S., unfortunately," said meteorologist Jennifer Pralgo of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. "We're hoping it's not Florida again, but it's taking a fairly similar track to Charley at the moment."

Another meteorologist at the Miami center, Hugh Cobb, added this grim warning: "Whoever gets this, it's going to be bad."

Cobb said that if Ivan hit Jamaica, it could be more destructive than Hurricane Gilbert, which was only Category 3 when it devastated the island in 1988.

Jamaica posted a hurricane watch Wednesday afternoon and ordered all schools closed and fishermen to pull their skiffs ashore and head for dry land. Haiti's southwest peninsula was on hurricane watch as well.

Ivan became the fourth major hurricane of a busy Atlantic season Sunday.

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On the Net:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical

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