Cuba waits for Ivan

At least 65 people have been killed as Hurricane Ivan leaves a path of devastation across the Caribbean.

In Jamaica, 19 people died as wind and rain destroyed houses and caused floods. Surging waters battered the Cayman Islands, forcing tourists to flee.

The hurricane is heading for Cuba and Florida, forcing the evacuation of millions in its path.

Cayman Islanders sought shelter where they could as Ivan battered the British territory with roaring winds and huge seas.

With 160mph winds, Ivan tore off roofs, produced two-storey waves and submerged an airport runway on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands that make up the wealthy offshore finance centre of 45,000 people.

The islands were without power and emergency services said conditions made it impossible to help anyone.

"I'm at work and the water is up to my knees," said Devon Chisolm, a George Town firefighter. "We can't help anyone." Office worker Justin Uzzell, 35, said: "It's as bad as it can possibly get. It's a horizontal blizzard. The air is just foam."

Telephone communications with the low-lying Caymans were abruptly cut off yesterday. On tiny Cayman Brac, residents sought shelter in caves.

Investment banker Andrew Golding fled his Cayman home with his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter on one of the last flights out. Seats on the final flights were snapped up, many by fleeing Britons. "We got off in the nick of time," said Mr Golding. "I don't know if everybody who wanted to get off the islands could get off."

Ivan has claimed victims in Grenada, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Tobago and Jamaica. At midnight GMT its eye was 200 miles south-east of the western tip of Cuba, which lay directly in its path. "So far 1.4 million persons have been evacuated," Cuban civil defence authorities said. Many buildings had lost their roofs and water up to 2ft deep covered the airport runway.

Weather service chief Jose Rubiera said the worst of the hurricane would hit Cuba early today and could be stronger than any in the last 40 years.

Authorities have evacuated some two million people from their homes, opening bomb shelters for refugees.

The eye looked set wreak havoc in Pinar del Rio, where some of the world's most productive tobacco fields bring in about $180 million each year.

All domestic and international flights into and out of Cuba were cancelled until Tuesday at the earliest.

In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush extended a state of emergency over the entire state, still mopping up from the destruction of Hurricanes Frances last week and Charley last month.

Residents have been ordered to evacuate the Florida Keys, although Ivan's revised path goes west of the island chain.

The hurricane has disrupted oil production in the Gulf Of Mexico, forcing prices of crude up by 49 cents to $43.30 a barrel within the first 15 minutes of trading today.