Remembering Ivan!

On September 7, 2004, 12 years and three weeks ago, Hurricane Ivan made landfall in Grenada. When the Category 3 storm ultimately departed here to continue on its westward course, it left behind untold devastation, and an island mourning 39 deaths.

While statistically rare for hurricanes to impact Grenada, it is definitely not unheard of. In 1955, Hurricane Janet passed between Grenada and Carriacou, causing numerous deaths, and significant damage. A near miss with Hurricane Flora in 1963 resulted in similar devastation. There have been others too, including Emily, which occurred just a year after Ivan. The storm that everyone still talks about though, the storm that is most remembered, is Ivan.

Hurricane Ivan became the southernmost storm on record, at 10.2°N, to reach major hurricane status. Note that Grenada is located at approximately 12.07°N, 61.4°W.

Let’s talk about Ivan

Whenever the subject of bad weather comes up in Grenada, both longterm residents and visitors alike tend to bring up Hurricane Ivan. To hear people talk, you’d think that, before reaching Grenada, the storm was zig zagging across the atlantic, changing direction over and over. To my eyes though, after studying the track, the storm followed a relatively straight path. Certainly straight enough that you’d think people here would have been concerned!

We have been told that 90% of the islands rooftops were ripped away during the storm, and this article certainly supports that.

The strong winds impacted more than 14,000 homes on Grenada with 90 percent of the nation’s houses damaged and of which 30 percent were destroyed. The capital city of St. Georges was severely damaged, where every major building was either damaged or destroyed. Ivan’s passage either damaged or destroyed 85 percent of the structures on the island, including the nation’s emergency operations center and a 17th-century prison, which allowed many inmates to briefly escape during the height of the storm. The hurricane damaged or destroyed 75 primary or secondary schools, with only two left in working condition. All of Grenada was left without power or running water.

The quality of Grenada’s anchorages, or hurricane holes, are now all judged by how boats faired during that single storm. Some, who were on island when it occurred, share first hand knowledge of boats either breaking free, or successfully weathering the blow. Others, like us, can merely pass on what we have been told.

This image is NOT from Grenada, but it’s a good representation of the type of damage that can result from a strong tropical storm. It’s worth remembering!

It pays to remember!

It seems to me that the longer an island goes without experiencing significant storm damage, the more complacent people become. That includes both residents, and visitors (cruisers and tourists). It’s natural, I suppose. Short term memory does seem to be more vivid than long term. If there is any good that resulted from Ivan’s destruction, it’s that people here do still remember the results of that storm. Just yesterday, as TS Matthew was approaching us, I took note of several locals that we know admonishing their friends on Facebook to take proper precautions for the storm. Even though, by then, the forecasts showed that Matthew was due to pass well north of us, they reminded their friends how much everyone here was caught off guard in 2004, and that they didn’t want it to happen again. Remember Ivan, they said. Remember Ivan!

The tail end of TS Matthew passed by our area early this morning. We saw plenty of rain, but no gusts higher than 30 knots. Although we experienced no drama ourselves, we did hear quite a bit of radio traffic during the night concerning boats dragging anchor in other bays. Of course, just as I’m writing this, a few more big squalls are effecting us, with gusts approaching 40 knots. And with those squalls are further reports of even more boats dragging anchor. Let’s hope everyone can hold fast until the wind abates later this afternoon.