Hurricane Ivan, one of the fiercest Atlantic storms recorded, headed toward Cuba yesterday after pummeling the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Grenada on a track that eventually will bring it to the US coast.

A monster storm with sustained winds near 160 mph (260 kph) that has killed at least 47 people, Ivan sent sea water surging over the low-lying Caymans, a British territory and wealthy offshore finance center of 45,000 people.

Forecasters said the rare and deadly Category 5 hurricane was expected to pass near or over extreme western Cuba yesterday evening. They warned of a 20- to 25-foot (6-7.6 metre) storm surge of seawater to the east of where the center makes landfall in Cuba.

On Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands, homes and businesses were flooded, an airport runway was submerged and roofs were torn off, witnesses said.

Panicked residents climbed on kitchen counters to escape a waist-high storm surge that swept at least half a mile (about one km) inland.

Ham radio operators reported that people were standing on rooftops, the US National Hurricane Center said.

While damage was extensive, the island of 2.7 million people appeared to have escaped the total havoc wrought on Tuesday on the tiny spice island Grenada, where 19 people died and 90 percent of buildings were flattened or badly damaged.

Ivan was headed for tobacco-growing regions of western Cuba or Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula yesterday and then toward the United States, where it could inflict a third hurricane strike on Florida within a month or curve west toward New Orleans.

<B>Path unclear </B>

The hurricane’s path was unclear, and the most powerful winds around its eyewall could end up closer to the Yucatan than to Cuba as it sweeps into the Gulf of Mexico and makes an expected northerly turn.

In southern Florida – storm-weary after a visit from Hurricane Charley on Aug. 13 and Hurricane Frances a week ago – homeowners began to breathe a sigh of relief after it appeared the vulnerable Florida Keys would likely be spared.

Nevertheless, state officials warned that at least 1.7 million people living in fragile mobile homes or low-lying areas were at risk along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“We really have to err on the side of caution,” said Florida state meteorologist Ben Nelson.

The hurricane’s path was unclear, and the most powerful winds around its eyewall could end up closer to the Yucatan than to Cuba as it sweeps into the Gulf of Mexico and makes an expected northerly turn.

At least 12,000 Jamaicans spent Sunday night in shelters after huge waves, flash floods or fierce winds wrecked their homes. Looting, which erupted as the storm hit, appeared under control, as heavily armed police patrolled.

Cuba evacuated 1.3 million people – more than a tenth of its population – and prepared for 12 inches (30 cm) of rain. Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula also braced for possible high winds, and began evacuating 12,000 residents and tourists from Isla Mujeres, a resort island 8 miles (13 km) from Cancun.

On Saturday, Ivan’s top sustained winds were reported at 165 mph (265 kph), making it the sixth-strongest Atlantic storm recorded in the Atlantic basin, the hurricane center said.

Ivan was downgraded to Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson storm scale as it hit the Caymans but strengthened again to a rare Category 5 on Sunday night.

It was unlikely to reach US shores as a Category 5, the center said. Hurricane Andrew, which savaged the Miami area in 1992 and caused $25 billion in damages, was a Category 5.

Ivan’s center was about 160 miles (255 km) southeast of the western tip of Cuba at latitude 19.9 north and longitude 83.5 west and moving west-northwest near 9 mph (15 kph) at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

In addition to the deaths in Grenada and Jamaica, four people died in Venezuela, four in the Dominican Republic and one in Tobago.

<B>Alan Markoff</B>