Devon: Hurricane Ivan was 'Scary'

Wed, Sep 8, '04

As an opening batsman, Devon Smith has spent his cricketing career in the eye of the storm. But, nothing could ever come close to the first-hand experience of Hurricane Ivan's ferocious winds.

"It was a very scary experience. Lots of rain and heavy, heavy winds blowing off rooftops. My grandfather's house was mashed up but everyone's safe around here thankfully," Smith told CaribbeanCricket.com via cellphone from Grenada.

The West Indies opener said his family heeded all the early warnings that helped them prepare for the Category 4 hurricane that ripped though the Spice Island Tuesday, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing more than two dozen people.

The 23-year-old left-hander, who has played in 10 Tests for the regional side, said the devastation in his home village of Hermitage was severe with fallen trees blocking roads and hundreds of homes flattened completely.

His village was without water or electricity and telephone service was spotty.

"We're now seeing the damage so I'm not sure exactly how bad it is. Right now, we're just starting to clean up," Smith said.

The hurricane, which pounded the island for two hours, also destroyed Grenada's National Stadium Complex that houses the New Queen's Park cricket facility.

According to CMC Sports, roofing for the covered stands in the Cricket Stadium, and the National Stadium (track and field and football) facilities were all toppled, and fittings that made up the double-decker stands at the cricket stadium lay furrowed on the infield.

The electronic scoreboard at the National Stadium was destroyed and the manual scoreboard at the Cricket Stadium was also demolished by the powerful winds.

The damage from the hurricane could threaten Grenada's hosting of matches in next month's regional one-day competition and possibly derail preparations for the World Cup competition in 2007.

* Click here for information on assisting with Grenada's rebuilding efforts.