Ivan Lashes Jamaica; Grenada Still Recovering
I checked the NOAA map (updated map displays here) and realized that Ivan was over Jamaica. The latest news reports indicate that the death toll has risen:

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Waves two-stories high and torrential rains flooded eastern Jamaica and punishing winds knocked down trees and power lines as Hurricane Ivan slammed coastal areas late Friday night, heading for a direct hit on the island. The death toll elsewhere in the Caribbean rose to 37.

Ivan's winds strengthened to near 155 mph...as the storm's center moved toward landfall at around 2 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT)....

But the hurricane was expected to spare the densely populated capital of 1 million people the brunt of its wrath.

(OE comment: I haven't checked into the details of where the storm's rain and winds are most powerful, but presumably they're most powerful away from the eye. The eye is anticipated to go directly over Jamaica.)

Howling winds and sheets of horizontal rain crashed around the eastern end of the blacked-out island after utility officials turned off the power to minimize damage to plants.

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson declared a public emergency Friday afternoon and pleaded with the half million people considered in danger — about one in five islanders — to get to shelters. But most residents refused to leave for fear abandoned homes would be robbed.

"I'm not saying I'm not afraid for my life but we've got to stay here and protect our things," said Lorna Brown, 49, pointing to a stove, television, cooking utensils and large bed crowded into a one-room concrete home on the beach at the northwestern resort of Montego Bay....

(OE comment: This is sad - early reports indicated similar problems in Grenada - but it's not unique to the Third World. Florida has had its share of looters, but not at the same scale as elsewhere.)

[O]nly 5,000 people moved into shelters islandwide, emergency management director Barbara Carby said. The government had asked 500,000 to flee....

Here's some information about the current situation in Grenada:

[Ivan] damaged 90 percent of homes [in Grenada], tossed sailboats to shore and set off looting among some of the 100,000 residents left without electricity, water and telephone service.

Manning, the Trinidadian leader, said Grenada's priorities are establishing security to end looting; recapturing prisoners; providing food, potable water, tents, blankets, and materials to rebuild; and restoring communications and electricity.

The American Red Cross disaster unit said Grenada's government has temporarily closed the country to relief shipments to get the security situation under control....

As many as 75 convicts remained at large after about 150 of the prison's 325 inmates escaped when the storm damaged the prison.

Troops from Barbados and Trinidad guarded Grenada's airport, where dozens of American medical students waited for chartered flights home....

(OE comment: Remember the medical students?)

In Washington, a State Department official said all Americans on Grenada who wish to leave the island will be flown to Trinidad starting Saturday morning aboard chartered U.S. aircraft.

There was no official estimate on the numbers of Americans there but one estimate said there were about 1,500, including U.S. medical students. The Peace Corps said all 23 of its volunteers on Grenada were accounted for and safe....