Paradise Beach after Ivan

Paradise beach on Carriacou has been quite well sheltered against the hard winds from hurricane Ivan. Most striking effect for some time will be that many of the manchineel trees have suffered and some of them will not survive the maltreatment by Terrible Ivan. Paradise Inn has been completely spared for damage, but Banana Joe's Bamboo Brunch Bar has been swept away. It must be said that that structure was not completely complying to many of todays building standards , so that was to be foreseen and it's not a huge surprise . For sure the bar will be reconstructed , as has happened a few times in the past.

Paradise Inn after Ivan.	Manchineel hurt by Ivan.	Banana Joe's Bar gone.

Pictures of paradise beach and Paradise Inn Hotel Carriacou after hurricane Ivan.

It is already soon one week after hurricane Ivan past The Grenadines, and
the effects of it are now getting to us...

We're very lucky and thankful that the eye of the hurricane didn't hit
Carriacou directly, we were in the outskirts of the eye, and didn't hit the
worst wall following the eye like Grenada did. I was, however, pretty
horrified the 12-14 hours it was going on, and during the time we were
waiting for it to hit us. A hurricane on a little island is not a joke, and
many people have lost their homes and belongings. We were lucky and had only
minor damages.

The beach has changed, Sandy Island is more or less gone, Belmont (south of
the island) is devestated and most of the houses have lost their roofs, but
still nobody got killed here in Carriacou.

In Grenada, however, the situation is now terrible. It's anarchy there now,
no control of anything and the gangs are taking over and the looting is
terrible. As you may have heard on the news; the prison in grenada got
totally mashed, and so did the main police station in St. Georges. This
means they have nowhere to put the criminals right now. The police is now
getting help from soldiers from outside, among ather a navy ship full of US
soldiers, Trinidad coast guard, St. Lucia coast guard, etc. If they don't
get control of the island soon the people will really start to suffer in
lack of clean water and food stuff. All the vegetables and fruits were blown
away, the looters have stolen and robbed everything from the stores, and
whatever was left people have of course bought to survive the next days...
There is lots of aid waiting to come in with food and medical supplies, but
they cannot enter Grenada as the situation is so dangerous. There are masked
men with guns ruling the capital right now, and they have 24 hours cerfew in
most of the cities.

My very good friend ... and her 4 children are stuck in Grenville. She has
food for about one week, and their house wasn't mashed completely, but it's
very unsafe for a single white woman with kids in such a situation.  I'm
trying to find a way to get them up here, but due to the strict cerfiew it's
impossible even to pick them up with a speedboat.

People have come back from Grenada with terrible stories about people having
nothing, nothing left, they cannot locate their families, they have lost
everything they had in life, and the situation is getting very desperate.
Grenada hasn't even managed to set up a radiostation that works yet for
people to get information about what is going on, sending messages to their
loved ones, and so on... The government has absolutely no control over the
situation and people are of course getting even more mad at them in this
situation. I feel sorry for the police, the gangsters have better guns,
better torches, better cars, better everything. Some of them are staying
home to protect their families instead of going to work now...

Check Red Cross if you could help. They need everything from clean water,
food, medicine, mattresses, clothes, building materials, etc. etc....


We are OK for the time being. Hope it remains calm and beutiful in Paradise.
By the way, since the hurricane passed the place has been unbearibly hot,
about 35 Celcius, and very humid and not a breeze is passing.

All the best, I will keep you informed...