Go-Jamaica Weather Watch

 

 

On September 10-12, 2004, the centre of Ivan passed near Jamaica, causing significant wind and flood damage. Looters were reported roaming the streets of Jamaica’s capital city, Kingston (which appeared deserted), robbing emergency workers at gunpoint. Overall, 17 people were killed in Jamaica and 18,000 people were left homeless as a result of the flood waters and high winds. Most of the major resorts and hotels fared well, though, and were reopened only a few days after Ivan had passed. Damage on Jamaica totaled US$360 million.  

 

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Like an avalanche, hurricane ‘IVAN’ made its way across the Caribbean waters aiming directly at Jamaica. Through divine intervention, it shifted a wee bit, dropped back from a category five to a category four hurricane, broke its wind-speed to eight miles an hour and ‘coasted’ on the shore as it battered the land with puffs of gusting winds and torrential showers of rain.

Manchester, St Elizabeth and Clarendon had not yet recovered from the ravishing of Charley Two before they were again struck by this destroyer. Right across the parishes- from north to south; east to west, everyone experienced the wrath of IVAN the terrorist. One resident remarked, “Don’t say IVAN, say ‘MASS’ Ivan; him a nuh boy, him a big man!”

 

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  Police patrol a street in Kingston after Hurricane Ivan hit Jamaica, September 11, 2004.

 A Jamaican man stands on a flooded street in Kingston during rain and winds brought on by Hurricane Ivan in Kingston, Jamaica, September 11, 2004.

Deadly Hurricane Ivan ripped into Jamaica with powerful winds, torrential rains and huge waves, tearing away houses and washing out roads before heading toward the tiny Cayman Islands and Cuba.

 

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One man said, “I heard this roaring sound coming up the hill and suddenly, I did not hear it again. I peeped outside, and noticed the rain and breeze going down hill. Just as I was about to say, ‘Thank God’, I heard a whistling sound coming back. Before I could think what it was, my roof was flying down the hill while the whistle continued up the hill.”

He explained this phenomenon this way. “Ivan must have said that him never know sey one house left up yah suh. So him tun back dung de hill, pick up speed and whistle when him a go blow off mi roof. Bway dis yah storm nuh only rough, him cold!”

Ivan was steadfast in its focus…from its nook on the shore, it focused in all directions. Being able to ‘view’ the land from a strategic angle, it had no difficulty stalking its victims. Ivan was a good mixer too. No category was spared. No, not one! People have been heard to say, “dis yah storm nuh partial, eh touch everybody!”

 

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Ann-Marie Burke and Madge Rochester were two women who lived in one of the beachfront houses that felt the full rage of Ivan. Madge said she thinks she was lucky that they evacuated on Thursday as there would have been more damages than just property.

When they returned on Monday they were shocked to see the wreckage Ivan left behind. It was as if something chewed its way through the community and spat it back out.

Ivan strength raised the waves to great heights, which bit huge chunks out of the buildings creating new entrances and exits. The ‘monster’ swooped down on the approximately three feet of seawall without any resistance and ravaged the houses sitting along the shoreline.

“Water and sand went through the grill at the front room but everything else was flushed out from the back,” said Madge. The waves that broke high tore off the doors leading into the house allowing a free-flow of water, sand and other debris to settle inside.

The beach to the rear of the house was dugout leaving behind large boulders never seen before. The foundation of the seawall that should be underground is now visible as it sits atop the sand.

In the kitchen of the house, there stood empty bottles of Bailey’s Rum Cream lining the top of the cupboard unharmed. Walks through the wrecked house led to three left-foot of shoes, no a sign of the right ones.

In the midst of all the damage, these residents manage to still have running water in their taps, more fortunate than many Jamaicans. Like some of the other residents of this area, Madge suffered additionally from looters who stole some of the appliances that once sat throughout the house.

They confessed that they have nowhere else to go and will stay there until better comes. When asked what do they eat, Madge was quite frank to say, “Biscuits and sodas.”