Ivan is following Charley and Frances, and is potentially more destructive than either

Ivan is following Charley and Frances, and is potentially more destructive than either

Jamaica’s horticulture industry is praying Hurricane Ivan, the latest in a series of destructive storms to hit the region, will miss the island. Hurricane-weary Florida’s already beleaguered industry, which can ill afford another visit having been battered by two hurricanes within the last month, is reportedly in line to receive Ivan by Sunday.

The hurricane has strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane and is sweeping toward Jamaica after killing at least 20 people in the tiny spice island of Grenada.

Packing sustained winds of 160 miles an hour, Ivan was heading north north-west from the south Caribbean and "could still intensify a little more this morning," the US National Hurricane Centre said.

"Ivan remains an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane as it heads in the general direction of Jamaica," it added.

The most powerful hurricane to hit the Caribbean in 10 years slammed into Grenada, a volcanic island of 90,000 people in the south-eastern Caribbean on Tuesday, flattening or badly damaging homes and cutting power.

Grenada's prime minister Keith Mitchell told BBC Radio: "We have got a tremendous hit that we never expected - you are talking hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

"I am pretty sure we have taken a tremendous hit in the nutmeg industry, which is a key barometer of our economic development," he added.

Forecasters say Ivan could continue to strengthen as it moves toward Jamaica, where it is expected to hit on Friday or Saturday before heading on to Cuba and then possibly Florida. National Hurricane Centre forecasters predict that Ivan could hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 131 to 155 mph, on late Sunday or early Monday.

"After Jamaica, it's probably going to hit somewhere in the U.S., unfortunately," said meteorologist Jennifer Pralgo of the National Hurricane Center. "We're hoping it's not Florida again, but it's taking a fairly similar track to Charley at the moment."

Another meteorologist at the Miami center, Hugh Cobb, added: "Whoever gets this, it's going to be bad."

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