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Hurricane Ivan Information

CruiseFever

By CruiseFever,
in Princess Cruises

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Flacrusrs

Flacrusrs

Posted
Posted
More good news for Fl. We need a break even though we don't want to see anyone else get a storm.

Yes, I really felt good when we only needed a patch and not a new tire. And that they were taking such good care of us when they had so much damage.

Now I have to go sheck out Ivan's new course.
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GloriaF

GloriaF

Posted
Posted
Hi All,
still on a westward course this AM? I'll be here checking for Sue's 11 AM graphics -- thank you so much for keeping us informed and making it so easy to stay updated, Sue!!

Yesterday at work I asked a co-worker if they wanted to see the latest graphic, and dialed into CC Princess board. They laughed, and said you go to a cruise board for info?? Then I showed them the info available on this board, and they were a believer. Thanks to Sue! BTW, what has happened to TinaLee, she was providing good info too -- is she cruising? Wherever she is, hope she is OK.

It doesn't look like south FL needs to evacuate now. Isn't it heavenly?

Take care y'all!
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Salty Dawg

Salty Dawg

Posted
Posted
We leave TWC on & every time they interview that young woman in Grenada my heart goes out to her. She looks so frightened when she says there is no food, no water & the raw sewage is running into water supply. Then, almost tearfully, she states she just wants someone to come get her out of there!

Just imagine being a young college student, in a foreign land away from home & family, feeling alone & helpless while facing such a horrendous catastrophe. Add to that the thought of the reported bands of armed looters... the poor thing must be going through he**.
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xntric1

xntric1

Posted
Posted
Brneyznfl,
My 86 yr old in-laws live in Ft Walton and are heading here (SC) if it comes your way. It will be the first time ever (since '68) that they plan to evacuate. We had planned to fly down to see them next weekend, but have held off making plane reservations.
I have been whinning about having to get the house "company-coming clean", but it is so petty of me when others would like to still have a home to clean. These boards can serve to remind you what is really important in life!

Our thoughts and prayers are with all in harms way.
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consmarci

consmarci

Posted
Posted
Sue, thanks for the latest graphic.
Also, thanks for yesterday's advice. Matthew and I went out for dinner and a movie and tried really hard not to talk about Ivan! (we almost went the whole night) It did help us alot just to get away from the weather reports.
This morning's news has helped us breathe alittle easier, at least for the moment. Decided to have a Buccaneers party (Tampa Bay Bucs playing today at 1:00pm) and relax alittle.
I'll check in later...Go Bucs!
Marci
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WeBeGone

WeBeGone

Posted
Posted
Hi to my friends in the Princess board. DH and I are safely parked in mid Florida in Avon Park. Some friends who stayed in Key West report a real ghost town down there with nothing open - no stores, no gas stations, no restaurants. They're expecting 60 mph winds even with Ivan on its current path. Only a few local bars are open with the biggies like Sloppy Joes buttoned down. Will stay here until we're sure Ivan is not going to make a right hand turn, then we'll head home. Have really appreciated Sue's updates. It's better than TV.
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sue d. miller

sue d. miller

Posted
Posted
Associated Press Correspondent



HOUSTON (AP) – Reports out of Grand Cayman, which has been furiously pummeled by category 4 Hurricane Ivan overnight and throughout Sunday morning, via internet and telephone, reveal a picture of grim devastation.

So far, Ivan has caused the deaths of some 56 people in the Caribbean on its deadly rampage from the Lesser Antilles, across Grenada, on to Jamaica and now Cayman.

Yesterday the Governor of the Cayman Islands, Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy, declared a State of Emergency.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, the Weather Channel reported that the island had been lashed by winds in excess of 200 mph.

Ivan was 60 miles west of Grand Cayman, traveling to the west at 10 mph, according to a National Hurricane Center Advisory.

There are unconfirmed reports that part of the capital, George Town, is “gone”, that roofs are blowing around in the streets of George Town, and that the hospital has been badly damaged, or is possibly also “gone”.

Two British ships are reported to be 250 miles behind Ivan, waiting to come into port to come to Cayman’s aid. The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory (colony).

Vehicles in flood-prone areas have are said to have “just disappeared”.

There is two feet of water at Owen Roberts International Airport.

Hurricane shelters on island are full to capacity.

An estimated 80 percent of the roof of Queensgate House, a waterfront commercial office building on the south side of the capital overlooking the harbour, has been blown off.

“It’s as bad as it can possibly get,” Justin Uzzell, 35, told the Associated Press by telephone about noon Houston time on Sunday, also noon Cayman time (Houston is on Daylight Savings Time, Cayman is not) from his fifth-floor refuge in the Citrus Grove Building downtown. “It’s a horizontal blizzard,” he described, saying he could see no further than the parking lot of the adjacent building. “The air is just foam. It’s a white wall. We’re being buffeted badly”.

At the Marriott Resort on Cayman’s famed Seven Mile Beach, its prime tourism product, windows were blown out of the 300+ room facility, and the cars in the parking lot had water up to their rooftops. Children of guests were said to be “going bonkers” from being “cooped up”.

“A catastrophe”, was how one landlord described the residential area of Crewe Road in George Town.

The island has been without electricity since Saturday evening and phone service is often impossible. Cell phone batteries are wearing down or are spent.

Canal-front developments, such as Governor’s Harbour and Snug Harbour, are flooded.

The Hyatt Britannia Resort’s canal which flows into the North Sound has overflowed due to the storm surge, and the Britannia Villas are flooded inside, as is the golf course. Cars there are under water.

At 12:50 p.m. “winds are fiercer than ever”, reported one Cayman resident on the website stormcarib.com, which featured many posting from people seeking information on their loved ones.

Here in Houston, some 125 evacuees who arrived from Grand Cayman Friday afternoon on a special charter flight hired by Cayman-based Dart Management Ltd. to bring its employee resources to safety, were worried and frustrated at not being able to get through by cell phone, hearing “all circuits are currently busy”. They continue to try to reach friends and relatives in their storm-tossed country.

Although the eye of the storm is now 60 miles southwest of the coast of Grand Cayman, Ivan’s hurricane-force winds (155 mph, with gusts to 190 mph) extend out 90 miles from the storm’s center, and it is presently moving west-northwest at 10 mph. Tropical storm-force winds extend out 120 miles. That means Grand Cayman is in for hours more of continued bashing.

The three Cayman Islands – Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, and Grand Cayman, 90 miles to the southeast of the Sister Islands – are home to about 45,000 people with well over 90 percent of them residing in Grand Cayman.

Flood waters were threatening the integrity of the Allista Towers Building in George Town.

There were unconfirmed reports that the roof had blown off the Kirk Servistar Home Center on Eastern Avenue.

Cars in the area of Cayman’s airport are said to have “floated off down the road”.

There were reports of 135-mile-an-hour winds out of the northeast over the last two hours.

Winds were so strong around noon on Saturday that “trees were bending down to the ground” along the West Bay Road, the island’s main road and tourist strip which runs parallel to Seven Mile Beach.

There is no radio service, leaving residents in the dark as to when and where the storm is going.

At midday people who sought shelter in the Walkers Building in the center of town were said to be okay.

Communiques from the Citrus Grove Building also said people seeking shelter there were safe.

The Huntlaw Building in the same area had its roof torn off around 8 a.m.

If Hurricane Ivan, which is reported to be developing a concentric (second) eye wall, winds increase by just one mile an hour, it will again be classed as a category 5 storm.

It is kicking up waves 15 – 25 feet, or two stories high. Cayman is experiencing 8 – 12-inches of rain.

According to the Weather Channel, Hurricane Ivan is the sixth strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin in recorded history.

It is taking a track similar to that of Hurricanes Charley and Gilbert, which visited Cayman in 1988, and has been called the “son of Gilbert”.

At noon Cayman time, Ivan’s coordinates were 19 N., 81.5 W., with wind gusts to 190mph.

“The wind is howling and there are no leaves left on any of the trees,” Perry Garrison told his wife, Shruty, in Houston by phone from Cayman.
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sue d. miller

sue d. miller

Posted
Posted
Another report from Georgetown, Grand Caymen!!!
Subject: Ivan in Cayman

I am writing from Ottawa Canada, and for the past 24 hrs I have been in
constant contact (every hour or so)with those in Butterfield house in
george town. They are all safe although witnessing intense
devastation/destruction outside. Roofs are flying off bldgs downtown,
windows of the Tower bldg are smashed in, roof and doors of bank of
America bldg are damaged or gone. At times it has been hard for them to
see the bank of America bldg which is only a few feet across the street.
Trees are blowing around, and bits of bldg are flying through the air.
I was told that what they are watching is far worse than anything ever
shown on tv either on the news i.e. Frances, or a Hollywood creation.
Wind is very strong and rattling the windows. The roof of butterfield
house is giving out and they are forced to stay on the ground floor
although water is now coming down the elevator shaft. Phone service is
intermittent, and they have been able to get occasional calls out via
cell phone. Although as the storm progresses it is harder and harder to
make and maintain contact. I have also heard reports of intense
flooding of canals from North Sound. The hospital has flooded and
everyone is on the second floor and sadly their generator is no longer
working. A few hours ago (prior to the worst part of the storm
hitting,) it was reported that cars along southsound road were
"floating" and that the sea was coming under the door of houses located
on the beach.
I am a resident of grand cayman, and all reports are intensely
upsetting. I can't imagine what it is like for those who are in the
middle of it. I hope that everyone remains safe, we are all thinking
about everyone in Cayman.
Julia

Sandra Plumley
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lynwar

lynwar

Posted
Posted
We have been to Georgetown 3 times during previous cruises.We were beginning to think of it as another home, becoming quite acquainted with the downtown area. Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, been to the Post Office-the first time to the Turtle Farm, Hell, Seven Mile Beach and other attractions. It is very disturbing to hear all the bad news about the storm. My step-mother is a retired nurse and every year she and my father would go to Grand Cayman with the Dr. for whom she worked when he set up his summer clinic. It will take a long time for them to recover. I wish them well. Lynne
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lynwar

lynwar

Posted
Posted
Dear Sue, I've been answering different posts for awhile awaiting your 5PM graphic. This is the second time I've posted this note, must not have hit the right button! It looks as if Ivan is going by the Southern part of the penisula and you will be spared down there. We may get some gusts and a "rain event" out of it if we're close enough to the outside bands. Does this mean I can really relax?? I just want to get through this coming week hasslefree weather-wise and work-wise so I be mellowed out to enjoy our cruise leaving on Saturday. Princess Cays is slated to be closed for 6 weeks according to a source on another board. So, we may be going to Nassau. OK with me!

We did some last minute shopping and watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get beaten by the Washington Redskins as a diversion from Ivan today. Maybe when I go to sleep tonight he will be gone. I haven't seen any coming up behind him. Lynne
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sue d. miller

sue d. miller

Posted
Posted
Hi Lynne. I am 99% sure you can rest easy. The other 1% will come when I see where it goes. They say either through the pass between mexico and Cuba, or over the tip of Mexico. It is supposed to be turning but it seems to really want to go west!! My concern is when it does finally turn, will it go straight up, veer toward mexico,turn north east????? Once it does its thing, and I see the course, I will rest easy!!! :)
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