Caribbean nation prepares for Ivan

(10 Sep 2004) SHOTLIST
1. Two high panning shots across Kingston (overcast)
2. Wide shot
3. Empty quayside, (boats brought in to shore)
4. Drains being unblocked
5. People walking in rain - pan to security in streets
6. Various shots people queuing for food
7. Pan empty shopping centre car park
8. Various shots of commercial district and people boarding up shops and businesses
9. Pull out police on guard outside shops (to guard against looters)
10. Mid shot residential house boarded up
11. Exterior school used as shelter
12. Various shots of children and adults inside
13. Children on mattresses
14. Downtown Kingston
STORYLINE
Hurricane Ivan bore down on Jamaica on Friday, prompting the government to order a half million (m) people to flee coastal areas.
Ivan was forecast to make a direct hit on Kingston, the sprawling capital of
one million (m) people in the southeast, and smash across the island to exit around Montego Bay in the northwest.
Meteorologists have warned of "life-threatening" flash floods and mudslides.
On Friday morning the storm's leading edge was already kicking up heavy rain and winds off the island's eastern tip, forcing authorities to close the airport and leaving hundreds of tourists stranded.
In the capital, streets were empty as people stayed home boarding up their houses and setting up shelters in schools and public buildings.
Those who did venture out queued for food and provisions in shops still open for business.
Businesses were being boarded up in commercial centres and armed private guards and police were already in the streets to guard against possible looting.
Montego Bay has already seen some looting.
Ivan, a Category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5 with winds of 145 mph (230
kph), could strengthen before striking the narrow 145-mile-long (230-kilometre-long) island Friday afternoon.
In its wake, it left Grenada a wasteland of flattened houses, twisted metal and splintered wood.
The death toll rose on Friday to 32, and was expected to increase.
Police nearly doubled the toll in Grenada to 22 including two unidentified foreign yachters.
US officials also ordered people to evacuate from the Florida Keys after forecasters said the storm - the fourth major hurricane of the Atlantic season - could hit the island chain by Sunday after passing the Cayman Islands and crossing Cuba.
Ivan is the fiercest hurricane to hit the Caribbean islands in a decade.
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