Freepers, the Cayman Island need your prayers

http://www.vibefm.ky/ ^ | 9/11/2004 | self

[Raebie]

It looks like the Cayman Islands are about to be devastated by Ivan. Please send thoughts and prayers to this tiny island.

Email good thoughts to:

studio@vibefm.ky

They are broadcasting live at this station as long as possible:

http://www.vibefm.ky/

(Click on the "vibe is streaming live" link in the upper left corner.

Thanks.

[July 4th]

Done. Thanks for letting me know. I have a friend who manages money there. He was able to evacuate - to Florida of all places! His condo is on one of the southern beaches. He doesn't expect it to be there when he gets back.

[wardaddy]

not to mention Foolio doesn't realize Cayman corporation monies are not literally there and that the authorities there frequently cooperate with the Feds especially on dope cases.

Nor does it know what nation in the world holds title to world's largest depository for questionable funds..... it won't have to look too far...lol...maybe it wishes ill on us too given such sub-adolescent logic

[onyx]

Daughter has just called me.
She can hear trees snapping,
and on the East end, the road
is full of conch shells.


She has finally lost power,
altho she thinks the Hyatt
went ahead and shut it off.

It's starting to hit the Grand Cayman...
the outer band, not the eye yet.

[Conservative4Ever]

I pray your daughter is safe. I know how I would feel if it was my daughter. I would be praying up a storm...sorry for the very bad pun.

Red

[onyx]

Thank you so much.
She wants me to stay up
to provide her with news.
I am looking to find the update,
but nothing so far.
The satelite photos looks like the
outer bands are hitting Grand Cayman
with the eye looking pretty close to me.

She has my 3 little grandchildren with her.
Ages 1 year to 13 years.

[onyx]

[Conservative4Ever]

Hopefully and prayfully the eye will stay west of the Caymans like it did Jamacia. Don't have cable TV where I am right now..so my information if from the internet. I assume you have phone contact. Let her know that there are people over the world who are praying for their safety. God bless.

Red

[onyx]

Will do, thanks Red.

[cyborg]

Fervent prayers for your daughter Onyx. I just woke up and I thought about you immediately. Keep us well posted please. I hope everything is okay.

[wardaddy]

We are praying and will at church in a few minutes as well.

[Palladin]

How is your daughter? How are the children?

I got really worried for her when I heard they evacuated the Hyatt.

---

From this site, yesterday, Sunday:

http://caymannetnews.com/2004/09/738/batter.shtml

As of 11 am local time (12 noon EDT), Hurricane Ivan continued to pound Grand Cayman with155 mph winds as it moved slowly along the south coast of the island.

According to the National Hurricane Service in Miami, at 11 am EDT the eye of Hurricane Ivan was about 30 miles southwest of Grand Cayman, but hurricane force winds extended for about 90 miles from the centre of the storm.

As the centre of circulation moves to the southwest of the island, the winds will start to shift to the south, likely exacerbating the dangerous sea conditions already existing around the coasts. In previous hurricanes, the sea has flooded across the island, joining the North and South Sounds, and, with the 6 to 8 ft tidal surge accompanying Ivan, it is possible that hurricane-force southerly winds could result in breaking waves across the entire neck of land separating the two Sounds.

The government-run Radio Cayman is currently off the air as a result of damage to the building housing its studios, with floodwater 2 feet deep in the parking lot. According to Radio Cayman’s News Director, Joel Francis, “We just didn’t see this coming.”

The Government Information Service is also unable to operate and this report has been prepared from unofficial information obtained from local sources.

As predicted, widespread flooding from the expected tidal surge was affecting a large part of the island. One report of a house standing eight feet above normal sea level had water ankle-deep inside. In lower-lying areas there have been reports of people having to climb onto kitchen counters to escape the seas that came flooding into their houses.

At the offices of Cayman Net News, at the time of filing this report, a foot of floodwater has entered the building causing much damage.

The hurricane force winds have torn roofs off and reportedly devastated homes, even in affluent, well-constructed neighbourhoods.

Vehicles parked in flood-prone areas are said to have “just disappeared.”

With many buildings, both residential and commercial, utilising septic tank waste treatment systems, the widespread flooding is resulting in serious health and sanitation concerns as overflowing sewage becomes mixed with the flood waters.

At the Cable & Wireless emergency bunker at One Technology Place, a number of people were given shelter after roofs blew off their houses.

Floodwater rushing through the ground floor apartments in at least one condominium building in West Bay forced the occupants to flee for their own safety to the floors above.

There has been a report that the Hyatt Regency hotel had to be evacuated.

All three islands are currently without any electricity, while water supplies were shut down Saturday night for fear of contamination from broken mains.

Telecommunications are inconsistent and unreliable. Many landlines, especially those that rely on the mains electrical supply are out of commission, but cellular services are still working intermittently.

Reports from the Sister Islands have been scarce, but it is understood that many residents of Cayman Brac sought shelter in the caves on the Bluff, the traditional refuge from hurricanes on that island.

All emergency services personnel have been required to stay at their posts through normal shift changes because it has been too dangerous for the incoming shift to venture out in the current conditions. This has doubtless resulted in a high degree of tiredness and stress for those emergency workers who have been on duty since Saturday.

Sky News in Britain has been carrying live reports every hour from Cayman Net News Publisher and Editor in Chief Desmond Seales, MBE, from the newspaper’s offices in Allista Towers, in George Town, Grand Cayman.

According to Mr Seales, “This is a national disaster. Damage is likely to run into the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.”

[Palladin]

Today's report:

Grand Cayman: ‘Devastation beyond imagination’
Monday, September 13, 2004
At 9 am local time on Monday, as the first reports of the full extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan began to come in, the early morning scene has been described as ‘devastation beyond imagination’.

Mariners Cove, an apartment building at Spotts on the south side of Grand Cayman, has been blown down by the wind completely across the road, blocking all traffic. Extensive damage has also been reported at Ocean Club, another apartment complex in the same area.

Just about every house on the island has lost part or all of its roof, in some cases the debris landing on the roofs of adjacent buildings.

Cars and boats have been swept by floodwaters into the roadways.

Some homes have been completely gutted by the wind and floodwater, with entire contents being swept across the streets. In some houses it is possible to see a high water mark on the walls, evidencing flooding of some 4 to 5 feet.

Whole sections and floors of some apartment buildings have completely disappeared.

Emergency services are experiencing difficulties in responding to requests for assistance because of communications difficulties. Some Cable & Wireless cellular phones are still working sporadically; all other providers have lost service.

Cayman Net News reporters are currently trying to make their way around the island to report on the damage at first hand and further details will be published as soon as circumstances and communications permit.

In a separate report, local journalist Paulette Connolly said on Monday that Hurricane Ivan ripped through the Cayman Islands tearing away homes and other building like "match sticks".

In a live interview on Citadel Radio on Monday, Connolly said that there had been reports of people being killed during the passage of the category five storm that had trucks and cars "floating like toys".

"The winds ripped the apartments like match sticks, the whole island has taken a battering. Cars and trucks were floating away like toys," she said, adding that the storm had battered the island for more than eight hours on Sunday.

Connolly said that while there had been no official death toll, "residents were calling the radio stations to report about deaths."

She said the authorities were on Monday using bulldozers and other heavy equipment in a bid to clear roads that had been under 20 feet of water when the waves rushed through the streets on the island.

"I don't know when the Cayman Islands will ever be like it was before, " she said noting that the British Dependent Territory was now looking to Britain for assistance in the aftermath of the hurricane that has killed at least 60 people during its passage through the Caribbean.

Connolly said that the buildings in the Cayman Islands, known internationally for its banking system, had been constructed under strict building codes and it was "indescribable" the manner in which the buildings were blown away.

She said that the hurricane shelters that were constructed to withstand winds of more than 200 miles per hour had been badly damaged.

"It is unimaginable. We are devastated. The sea went through apartments," the journalist, clearly emotional, said.

[onyx]

That was the hotel ... she's in a condo.
She is ok, but needs me to get the children out immediately.

Airlines will not permit them to travel unaccompanied.
The US Embassy might go in and get them for me.
Otherwise I am leaving tonight/tomorrow to go get them myself.

Her house is gone.
Their schools are gone.
Their church is gone.

But thank God, they're alive.

[Palladin]

Dear Onyx,

Thank God they are all O.K.

It is good that you can take the children. They may have to stay with you for the whole school year.

Your house will be a pretty lively place.

Good luck with your trip down there, if you have to go.

Most of all, I praise Jesus that their lives were spared!

[onyx]

I guess we bought that big old house in Mississippi for
reasons unknown at the time... :)

[Peach]

Oh, dear goodness, onyx. I'm so very sorry to hear about your daughter's home, schools, etc.

Have a safe trip getting those granchildren out. I will say prayers for all of you.