Hurricane Ivan slams into Grenada

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – Packing ferocious winds, Hurricane Ivan made a direct hit on Grenada on Tuesday, blasting apart scores of homes and forcing hundreds of evacuations before growing even stronger as it moved in Jamaica’s direction.

The storm, coming just days after Hurricane Frances, also damaged homes in Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

Howling winds raged through the hilly streets of St. George’s, capital of Grenada, thrashing concrete homes into piles of rubble and uprooting trees and utility poles, knocking out telephone service and electricity. Transmission was halted at Grenada Broadcast Network, whose building suffered major damage.

Several hundred people had been evacuated from low-lying areas of St. George’s. ChevronTexaco said it evacuated nonessential staff from a natural gas well off Venezuela’s Atlantic coast.

There were no reports of injuries in Grenada, but emergency officials could not be reached. Their office building, the 19th century Great House at Mount Wheldale in the capital, sustained roof damage and its verandah collapsed.

“Grenada felt the full brunt of this storm,” said Chris Hennon, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

More than 1,000 people rushed to shelters. Grenada, site of a 1983 U.S. invasion following a left-wing coup, has about 100,000 residents who live on several islands.

Ivan strengthened late Tuesday to a Category 4 – the second most powerful rating – as it appeared set to bear down on Jamaica by Thursday.

Ivan’s sustained winds were clocked at 120 mph Tuesday as raced through the Windward Islands but gained strength to 135 mph with higher gusts Tuesday night.