When Hurricane Ivan, a Category Five nightmare of a storm, slammed into the Cayman Islands, no one was prepared for the magnitude of the destruction. Yvonne Warwick, a Bermudian who has lived between Cayman and Bermuda for 17 years, fled to the safety of Bermuda after the nightmarish storm with her eight-year-old daughter, Allana. Allana will spend at least the next school year in Bermuda, as schools in Cayman are not expected to re-open until 2005.

The pair stayed at their friend Kim's house for the storm. Yvonne described the horrifying night that Ivan hit.

“There were reports from people on the radio saying their houses were filling up with water and they were sitting on tables. Reports of roofs coming off and people on the phone in one room trying to get help. Reports of people with new-born babies and with water up to their waist with nowhere to go.

“The radio station went out at about 2 a.m. and then it was just wind, loud noise and candlelight.

“At around 4 a.m. the roof started to come off ... with the wind howling the rest of the rooms started to cave in with the rain coming in.”

Yvonne, her daughter, friend Bethany, Kim and Kim's mother all crammed into the last room in the house - the bathroom. “By the shower (we) stayed wedged into a tight space with a mattress over our heads.

“I kept thinking if this room goes - where do we go? Then at around 7 a.m. the roof started to come in the last room ... we stayed in the bathroom with a mattress over our heads whilst the rain was pouring water into the house. My daughter was so strong and I kept assuring her I would not let anything happen to her ... We had tried to call 911 earlier but all the phones were down.”

When the storm finally died down the next afternoon, Yvonne and her friend ventured outside.

“There were roofs off almost every house we crossed by and telephone poles down, trees down. We had to take shortcuts as the water in some areas was five feet deep with cars completely underwater ... everyone was checking on everyone and seemingly walking round in a daze.

“Later that day (Sunday) when I got to my car I ventured out along the road and felt physically ill by what I saw. ... It was as if a bomb had been dropped in the middle of it ...

“There were police trucks up and down with police. It was chaos.” People lined up for days in 90-degree heat outside the airport after Ivan passed, including Yvonne and her daughter. Of the population of 40,000, Yvonne estimated at least ten thousand had already left the island, including many children, with the schools which are still standing being used as shelters.

“I would like to thank the people of Bermuda who have assisted my daughter with clothing, especially Jackie Matcham, Kim Anderson and Theresa Richards who spearheaded this effort and the assistance she has been given in placing her back in school,” Yvonne said.

The eight-year old will remain in Bermuda for at least the rest of the school year with her godparents, Tammy and Otis Ingham, attending St. David's Primary. Yvonne, however, will return to Cayman tomorrow.