Deadly Ivan Churns Toward Jamaica

Hurricane Ivan left Grenada a wasteland of flattened houses, twisted metal and splintered wood as it bore down on Jamaica with deadly winds and monstrous waves, forcing a half million people to flee their homes. The death toll in the Caribbean stood at 23 and was expected to rise.

Ivan, a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph, was forecast to make a direct hit on Jamaica Friday afternoon.

"We think that it could re-strengthen today before hitting Jamaica or before hitting Cuba," said Lawrence. "Between winds and storm surge flooding, we expect to see a lot of damage anyplace this hurricane would hit, Cuba or Jamaica, or anywhere else."

U.S. officials ordered people to evacuate from the Florida Keys after forecasters said the storm — the fourth major hurricane of the Atlantic season — could hit the island chain by Sunday after crossing Cuba. It was the third evacuation ordered in Florida in a month, following Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances.

"This track is very similar to Charley's track from a couple of weeks ago, and you may remember that that track ended up coming into the southwest Florida coast as a very strong hurricane," National Hurricane Center forecaster Miles Lawrence told CBS Radio News. "It's several days before this storm gets near Florida, and a lot of things could happen to the track, as well as the intensity, and we'll just have to wait and see."

Residents and tourists were streaming out of the Florida Keys Friday.

Tourists and residents who live in recreational vehicles or mobile homes are under orders to leave the Keys. But even some longtime residents who have weathered past storms are joining in the exodus, saying it's time to get "the heck out of Dodge."

"I've lived here for almost 28 years, and I've never known one that looked this serious, and after what it did to Grenada, I'm just ready to leave," said one resident.

The hurricane devastated Grenada on Tuesday, tossing sailboats against the shore, tearing apart buildings and setting off frenzies of looting.

"The destruction is worse than I've ever seen," said Michael Steele, a 34-year-old resident whose home was destroyed. "We're left with nothing."

Ivan, already the deadliest hurricane to hit Caribbean islands in a decade, unleashed violent winds, downpours and waves across a wide area. It killed 13 people in Grenada, one in Tobago, four in Venezuela, one Canadian woman in Barbados, and four youngsters in the Dominican Republic who were swept away by a giant wave Thursday even though the storm was nearly 200 miles away.

The worst damage struck Grenada, where house after house in the capital of St. George's was shredded by whipping winds. Stadium awnings collapsed, church roofs caved in and many trees snapped. Those left standing were stripped of leaves, giving a brownish tinge to debris-strewn hills overlooking the Caribbean Sea.

Looting broke out Thursday as hundreds of people, including families with children, smashed storm shutters and shop windows to take televisions and shopping carts of food.

Police set up barricades on roads leading into the capital Thursday and ordered all but emergency workers off the streets. Hundreds of shouting and shoving people said they had to get to town to buy water and food, and in the turmoil police fired tear gas.

Electricity was knocked out on the island of 100,000 people, and homes had no running water or telephone service. Cell phone service was patchy.

Sixty soldiers from Barbados, Antigua and St. Kitts arrived in Grenada to help restore order, military officials in Barbados said.

Troops from Barbados and Trinidad were among those keeping watch at Grenada's airport, where the floors were still slick and dozens of American medical students stood waiting for chartered flights home.

Some university students staying in Grenada said they were afraid of being attacked by looters and armed themselves with knives and sticks.

"With all the looting going on, they've gotten closer and closer to campus, and have been threatening the students' lives for their belongings, their food, their water, everything," student Christa Wozniewicz told CBS station KMOX Radio's Jon Grayson.

"We have machetes," she laughed. "That's about it."

Veterinary student Jamie Aaron from Illinois told Grayson that American students are crammed into the top floors of her apartment complex — afraid to use the bottom floors because of looters.

"We're staying up to try to protect ourselves in shifts so that way there's plenty of people up, they know that there's people here, in hopes that they'll think if there are too many people here, they'll leave us alone," she said.

Three U.S. Peace Corps volunteers were unaccounted for in northern Grenada, said Barbara Daly, chief spokeswoman for the federal agency, but she blamed inadequate communications with "safe houses" where they had stayed in northern Grenada and said there was no reason to believe they were harmed. Officials said they planned to travel north by boat Friday to check on the three.

Some areas were cut off by fallen trees and debris, suggesting the toll of dead and injured could rise.

In Jamaica, hundreds of tourists packed the airport in northern Montego Bay late into the night, appearing set to spend the night. Dozens of foreigners also lined up at Kingston's airport trying to get home.

Workers bolted plywood to windows, while grocery stores and gas stations stayed open late for crowds of people stocking up ahead of the storm.

Everywhere, Jamaicans got ready for the storm.

"I have to do it," a woman told CBS Miami station WFOR-TV. "This one is a monster."

In Cuba, President Fidel Castro warned residents to brace for the storm. "Whatever the hurricane does, we will all work together" to rebuild, he said on Cuban television Thursday night, making clear his government would stick with its position of not accepting humanitarian aid from the U.S. government.