Ivan the Terrible Blows Away Lives, Properties

MOBILE, Alabama, September 20, 2004 (ENS) - Hurricane Ivan and accompanying tornadoes, rains and flooding have been blamed for at least 52 deaths in the United States and 70 deaths in the Caribbean over the past two weeks. The storm has dissipated, but hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are still without power, most in Alabama and Florida.

Flooding extends through the southeastern states north to Ohio and Pennsylvania, and all across the east out-of-state crews are assisting wherever they can.

A Michigan Coast Guard crew was called to help in a Pennsylvania rescue of 20 people on Friday. Coast Guard Pittsburgh deployed three 16 foot flat bottom boats in an attempt to rescue 20 people stranded on the Mansfield Bridge in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. After one crew and vessel were stranded due to the extremely fast current, a Coast Guard helicopter from Traverse City, Michigan was directed to assist in the evacuation. The helicopter crew located those in trouble, the Coast Guard personnel and boats were recovered without injury, and so were the 20 stranded civilians.

Other Coast Guard members, working with the Army National Guard, rescued 53 people from high waters in areas around Carnegie.

Coast Guard personnel have coordinated the rescue of two stranded residents from 12 Mile Island on the Allegheny River and recovered more than 10 breakaway barges on the Ohio River. Barges and various pleasure craft have also broken their moorings on the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers.

Recovery efforts are hindered by the extremely fast river currents as flooding rivers crested Sunday evening.

President George W. Bush greets Arthur Bourne, police chief of Gulf Shores, during a visit with First Responders in Orange Beach, Alabama on Sunday. (Photo courtesy The White House)

Bush toured the damage in Florida and Alabama on Sunday. Greeting first responders in Orange Beach, Alabama close to where Hurricane Ivan made landfall on Thursday bearing 135 mile per hour winds, the President said, "The devastation caused by Ivan is terrible. This was a big storm that caused a lot of damage and a lot of suffering."

"I want to thank the police and firefighters from this part of the world, who have been working overtime, for their compassion, for providing stability so people can, at some point in time, get their lives back in order," Bush said.

"We toured the beaches in Florida and Alabama and saw how powerful this storm was," he said. "But the governors and I fully understand there are people inland who have been affected," said the President. He promised federal emergency help for inland residents and for farmers and citrus growers who crops have been ruined by the storms of the past five weeks.

Florida was just recovering from Hurricane Charley August 13 and Hurricane Frances, which lasted for several days in early September, when Ivan hit with devastating force.

And now a new threat is destroying lives and property in the Caribbean - Tropical Storm Jeanne which sent floodwaters raging down Haitian rivers, killing at least 90 people before it moved out over the open sea on Sunday, officials said.

The northwestern coastal town of Gonaives were hardest hit. U.S. backed interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and other officials took a United Nations truck out to the stricken areas on Sunday, but were hindered by washed out roads. "We don't know how many dead there are," Latortue told reporters. "2004 has been a terrible year."

President Bush declared a disaster area in Puerto Rico on Sunday to help support immediate response efforts for Tropical Storm Jeanne. Buildings were destroyed and trees and power lines are down.

An aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen had to medivac a one year old boy by helicopter from Aguada to Centro Medico Hospital in San Juan on Sunday after he received first and second degree burns from boiling water. Tropical Storm Jeanne left many roads flooded and blocked from debris, making ambulance transport impossible.

"Missions like this one are just one of the many ways that the Coast Guard is able to assist the community in times of crisis," said Lt. Cmdr. Johnny Gonzalez of the Coast Guard Greater Antilles Section based here.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Florida team members Ernie Capote and Dr. Alicia Chilito search for survivors following hurricane Ivan. (Photo by Andrea Booher courtesy FEMA)

Many vessels are aground, sunk or destroyed in ports all along the Gulf Coast, and aids to navigation are off station and damaged.

Coast Guard marine safety personnel are investigating a report of a spill of 130,000 gallons of crude oil from a fuel tank located on a fixed platform and pipeline located 25 miles northeast of the Southwest Pass in the Gulf of Mexico.

A boom to contain the oil spill, and skimmers to collect the oil, were deployed to recover and control the oil's spread.

Out in the Gulf, Coast Guard personnel are monitoring the status of rigs, platforms and mobile offshore drilling units which came loose from their moorings or were damaged by Hurricane Ivan.

All rigs previously adrift are now reportedly under positive control, and are being returned to their original locations or towed to facilities for repair and further assessment, the Coast Guard says.

The Intracoastal Waterway remains closed, and pollution assessments are ongoing.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley said on Sunday that "Alabama’s recovery efforts continue to make great progress in delivering water, ice and other assistance" to victims of Hurricane Ivan.

"The state is working closely with FEMA and our local officials to do everything we can as quickly as we can to help victims and restore a sense of normalcy to their lives," Governor Riley said. "Critical needs such as water and ice are moving out to devastated areas around the clock, power is being restored and almost $2 million in grants to individuals have already been approved."

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class, Aaron Raines, Aviation Training Center Mobile, checks the pulse of an elderly woman in critical condition during a rescue flight Saturday from a church in Monroeville, Alabama. Hurricane Ivan left the group of more than 70 patients stranded and in need of medical attention. (Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mike Lutz courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

"We remain committed to the state’s long-term recovery for as long as it takes to help the people of Alabama and their hard-hit communities get back on their feet after Ivan’s devastating blow," Brown said.

Since Hurricane Ivan struck the state early Thursday morning, more than 4.3 million gallons of water, 20.3 million pounds of ice and 300,000 Meals Ready to Eat provided by FEMA have been delivered to storm victims at the request of Governor Riley.

In Northwest Florida, power restoration is underway. Gulf Power has restored electricity to more than 145,000 customers of the more than 364,000 who lost power after Hurricane Ivan severely damaged the company’s electrical infrastructure.

“The backbone of our electrical system was broken,” said company spokesman John Hutchinson. “Now that we’ve gotten that back up, we can begin to turn on large blocks of customers.”

“We made good progress today, getting most key critical customers – hospitals, emergency departments, water and sewer stations – back up,” Hutchinson said.

Alabama Power has now restored power to nearly 600,000 people since Hurricane Ivan struck the state Thursday morning. As of Sunday afternoon, 265,892 customers remained without power, down from a peak of 825,701 outages at 4 pm Thursday. Crews from across the country as assisting Alabama Power crews to bring customers back online.

Gas is tight in the Atlanta, Georgia area as a result of Hurricane Ivan, so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), at the request of the Georgia Department of Environmental Protection, has waived the sulfur fuel requirements under the Clean Air Act.

Laura Bevan, incident commander for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) National Disaster Animal Response Team as pleading with the public not to forget that many animals have been hurt, lost and disoriented by the storm.

"I have many years of experience in responding quickly to disasters, and I can tell you that I have never experienced such a devastating string of natural disasters," Bevan said. "In fact, it's the worst series in the Humane Society of the United States's 50-year history."

The HSUS helped to set up the state's Incident Command Post in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, which serves its base of operations. "We are already working non-stop," said Bevan, "rescuing animals, assessing damage, getting much-needed supplies to pet owners, and helping to relocate animals to alleviate the overflow in shelters."