Hurricane Ivan killed at least 11 people across Grenada, Tobago, and Venezuela on 9 September 2004, churning westward at Category 5 strength with sustained winds near 255 kilometers per hour. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center placed the storm roughly 160 kilometers northeast of Aruba and more than 850 kilometers southeast of Jamaica.
Grenada suffered the heaviest losses. Nine people died on the island of 90,000 residents, and Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said roughly 85 percent of the country had been damaged. Power was out across the island, hundreds had taken shelter, and Mitchell, whose own home was destroyed, confirmed Grenada was without electricity.
A woman in Tobago died when a tree fell on her. In Venezuela, a man was killed when winds toppled a wall near the coast; flooding left 150 others affected. Airports near Caracas, including Maiquetia, closed temporarily and remained on standby for a second shutdown if conditions deteriorated.
Jamaica was under a hurricane watch expected to be upgraded to a full warning by day's end, while Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao were already under hurricane warnings. Cuba began preparing 11 of its 14 provinces even as the island continued recovering from Hurricane Charley, which struck in August. Venezuelan authorities warned that heavy rain and winds from the storm could continue for up to 72 hours.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.