By KSN Chief Meteorologist Dave Freeman

January 2005 -- The images are all too familiar: ruined homes, businesses destroyed, man-made objects tossed about like toys, and the faces of people who have seen their lives turned upside down by Mother Nature. Of course the most recent example of this is the terrible tsunami in Southeast Asia. But, I am talking about another disaster: Hurricane Ivan, which churned through the Caribbean this past September before slamming into the US Gulf coast.

One of Ivan's first victims was the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. Grenada is a tiny island, only about twice as large as the City of Washington, DC. It is home to about 90,000 people, who typically enjoy the delightful tropical environment of the Southern Caribbean (just 12 degrees North latitude). But, there is another side to those warm waters--an angry side. And Grenada felt the full fury of Mother Nature when Hurricane Ivan arrived.

Ivan struck on September 7, 2004, as a Category 5 hurricane--packing winds of more than 155mph! 39 people died in the storm. Some estimates say 80-90% of the homes in Grenada were destroyed or damaged. Grenada is known as "the spice island," but the country's nutmeg crop was destroyed. It will take a dozen years to replant trees and bring them to maturity.

The destruction meant that the country's other major industry, tourism, was also dealt a blow. For months, cruise ships did not call at the beautiful port--they began coming again in late December.

There was some good news about another of Grenada's natural resources: her underwater scenery. Grenada is well-known for its outstanding diving, and luckily Ivan spared the beautiful reefs and haunting wrecks. But, damage to hotels, dive boats and dive shops meant only a slow recovery.

My wife and I visited Grenada in early January, about 4 months after Ivan's wrath. As you can see by the pictures, the scars are still there. So many of the buildings have no roof or are just covered by a tarp. After sharing a few of my pictures on KSN, I received an email from a Catholic nun here in Wichita saying,

"We have a school and convent there in Grenada which sustained large damage and the sisters have been living in a converted tool shed and carrying on school in order to help maintain some order and stability with the children. I just wanted to thank you. Hope your trip was enjoyable, refreshing and re-creating! Blessings to you and your family." --Sister Sherri Marie, Via Christi-St. Francis

We did see school being conducted in buildings without roofs. Locals talked about huddling in an apartment building and watching a wood frame house being picked up and carried away by the ferocious winds. When they found out that I was a meteorologist from the US, several asked about tornadoes--searching for that unfamiliar word as they spoke. Ivan had spawned numerous tornadoes--almost unheard of to most folks in Grenada.

I'll share more pictures from our visit to Grenada--both above and below the water--on my website, www.davefreeman.tv. Surf on over in the next couple of weeks as I add some of those to the Photo Album.

And, while we remember the tsunami victims of December, let's also remember the victims of Hurricane Ivan, also still struggling to recover.

Dave Freeman
KSN Chief Meteorologist
weatherlab@ksn.com