Hurricane Ivan hits southeastern Caribbean countries

Hurricane Ivan rampaged through thetiny islands of the southeastern Caribbean on Tuesday, blowing offroofs, felling trees and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate from coastal areas.

Ivan, coming just days after Hurricane Frances, swept south of Barbados, over Grenada, brushed past Tobago and is expected to touch the eastern coast of Venezuela, according to the latest meteorological reports reaching here.

Hurricane warnings stretched from the French territory of Martinique in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south, and included Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Martinique.

Ivan was a powerful storm with sustained winds of 192 kph, and appeared set to cross the Caribbean Sea and bear down on Jamaica by Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

At 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), the hurricane's center was about 32 km west-southwest of Grenada. It was moving rapidly west at about 35 kph with winds of 220 kph and could strengthen over the next day as it moves through the Caribbean, the center said.

Ivan could reach Category 4 strength by late Tuesday, with winds of more than 210 kph. It might head towards southeastern US state of Florida, which has already suffered two hurricanes, Charley and Frances, in a month.

The present hurricane season, from June to October, is expectedto include no less than 14 hurricanes of this type passing throughthe Caribbean region.

Source: Xinhua