Ivan hurricane

The hurricane Ivan was the Ouragan most extremely of the cyclone season 2004. It was a traditional Ouragan capverdien, but with an important longevity. It was the 9th named Tropical storm, the 6th Ouragan and the 4th major Ouragan of the year. It was the 3rd time that a cyclonic phenomenon was named Ivan in the basin Atlantique.

It caused catastrophic damage with Grenade and important damage with the Jamaica, with Grand Cayman and the western point of Cuba, just as in Alabama.

Chronology

A zone of low pressures associated with a tropical Onde located at the south-west of the Îles of Cape Verde develops in Tropical depression on September 2nd. As of the beginning, the very tended forecasts of trajectory make it threaten the French West Indies seriously. Tropical storm the 3, then Hurricane the 5, Ivan is quickly reinforced in major Ouragan (class 3 the same day and class 4 6). It crosses Grenade the 7, then Ouragan of class 3, devastating the island. The Martinique and the finally saved Guadeloupe will undergo only peripheral effects of a moderate Houle.

Again class 4, it crosses the Caribbean Sea, by starting one seven days period of Vent equal to or higher than 120 node S (220 km/h), historical records leaving Dog (1950), Connie (1985) and Isabel (2003) far behind (between 4 and 5 days).

Of class 5 on September 9th, it strikes then the Jamaica the night of the 10 to the 11 (class 4) and the the Cayman Islands the 12 (class 5). Its Vent S reaches 275 km/h with broad Grand Cayman. With a central pressure of 910 HPa, it becomes the 9th more intense cyclone of the history.

Passing very close to the western point of Cuba, it moves while being again reinforced in class 5 towards the coasts of the Alabama which it reaches during the night of the 15 to the 16; it is then of class 3. It crosses the Alabama and is dissipated inside the grounds on September 17th. It reappears a few days later, on September 22nd, in the Gulf of Mexico at the stage of Tropical depression then of Tropical storm, for definitively disappearing on September 24th to 60 km in the North-East from Port Arthur to the Texas.

Records

Ivan reached three times the class 5.
Ivan was the major Ouragan more in the south (10° Northern)

Assessment

Grenade

Ivan, which crossed the island of Grenade on September 7th, 2004, killed 39 people directly. Saint-Georges, the capital, was severely damaged, including official buildings. The damage is estimated at 815 million dollars.

Jamaica

Many floods were caused by Ivan September 11th and 12th. 17 people perished and 18 000 were found without shelter. Estimate of the damage: 360 million dollars.

the Cayman Islands

According to the governor Bruce Dinwiddy, a quarter of the buildings of the islands were uninhabitable after the passage of the Cyclone Ivan. A person died.

the United States

14 people died in Florida, 8 in North Carolina, 2 in Georgia and 1 in the the Mississippi.

Florida

The most important damage was observed with Pensacola. A bridge of the Interstate 10 was strongly damaged, crumbling for nearly a quarter in bay of Escambia.

Alabama

More the extensive damage was observed in the county of Baldwin, where the eye of the cyclone touched the American ground. In the State, 500 000 people were private of electricity.

External bonds

Files of the NHC over the cyclone season 2004
Final reports of the NHC over the cyclone season 2004

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