ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA: Shocked by the destruction of their once idyllic island by Hurricane Ivan, residents of Grenada on Sunday desperately sought food, water and candles to provide some comfort in their shattered lives. ''I'm trying to find some plastic to put over my roof so that water won't come in,'' said Antoine Sayers as he scoured the Spice Island Marina, where dozens of large sailboats stored on dry docks had been knocked off their cradles and lay on their sides like fallen dominoes. Officials estimate that as many as 60,000 of the island's 90,000 inhabitants were left homeless by Ivan, which struck Tuesday afternoon, dealing a devastating blow to the tiny country that relies on tourism and nutmeg exports. In the hardest-hit areas not one house looked intact to a Herald reporter and photographer who toured parts of the island briefly as a cargo jet delivering humanitarian aid from Miami was unloaded. The cost of the damage could hit $600 million, said Patrick Antoine, Grenada's high commissioner to neighboring Trinidad. ''As we speak, Grenada has 26 confirmed casualties,'' he said in a conversation with officials from Diageo, a multinational corporation that arranged the relief flight. ``We are still counting the lost souls.'' Ivan's winds transformed Grenada from a lush, hilly Caribbean paradise to a grim and barren sight of wrecked houses and trees stripped of their leaves as if they had been scorched. Many palm trees were snapped by the 145 mph winds, leaving stick-like stumps in the ground. Most of the looting that followed had subsided by Saturday as Grenada's 750-member-strong police force, reinforced by more than 100 troops flown in from Caribbean neighbors, took to the streets, giving St. George's some semblance of law and order. ''Things are looking OK,'' said Lt. H. Singh, as his troops guarded a Food Fair supermarket in St. George's where shoppers lined up to purchase highly prized canned goods -- limited to two per person. Hills around the city were littered with debris, especially aluzinc sheeting, a popular roofing material that can become deadly when whipped up by the wind. Many cars drove around with their windshields smashed. One house had a six-foot satellite dish folded as if it were paper. Residents said St. George's three schools were demolished, and water was scarce. Some people had broken underground pipes to get at the water. Garbage, which hasn't been picked up since the storm struck, was piling up on the sides of the streets. Although some elegant residences were spared, many did not withstand the sharp winds. Venezuela's embassy was an abandoned hulk, part of its roof blown off. Some gas stations survived to open for business, but police moved in to close them down. ''We're saving gas for relief vehicles,'' said Sgt. Eric Peters, a Grenadian police officer standing guard at a Texaco gas station. Arnold Burris, a construction worker standing in line for fuel, summed up his family's needs: ``Water, food and candles.'' The roof collapsed on the Richmond Home for the elderly, killing three. The 95 remaining residents, many of them mentally impaired, were squeezed into the first floor. Lacking water to clean up, a strong stench of urine filled the rooms. ''We really need some pampers,'' said Sister Ursuline Charles as a team of New York and Chicago paramedics attended some of the injured. She said she had cried when she saw the devastation but was now grateful that more did not perish. ''It's the hand of God that saved these people,'' she said. Allen Chufook, a retired general manager of a local brewery, returned to Grenada after Ivan's strike after living in Trinidad for two years. ''I couldn't believe the devastation had been so thorough,'' he said as he drove around the capital. ``It was a very efficient hurricane.'' Howard McEchrane, his successor at the brewery, which makes Guinness beer under contract for Diageo, said he and his wife Christine spent seven hours in a closet as the hurricane tore their house around them. ''Imagine what that will do to your mind,'' said Chufook. Diageo had to house some of its employees, including the local general manager, in its offices and warehouses. The London-based Diageo is the world's largest producer of alcoholic drinks, distributing to 200 countries around the globe. The company, which in the past has sent shipments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, dispatched the planeload of powdered milk, beans, vegetable oil, rice and infant formula, plus a last-minute purchase of a dozen 22-pound bags of Purina dog food. ''It's for the search and rescue dogs. They've run out of food,'' said William Bullard, a spokesman for Diageo. The devastation was so thorough in part because Grenada lies outside the hurricane belt normally followed by storms that churn in the Caribbean. Many homes were not built to withstand 145-mph winds. The last hurricane, Janet, hit in 1955. U.S. embassy officials were recommending visitors and aid workers bring sleeping bags and food. ''The situation is very, very devastated,'' said Meg Gilroy, the top U.S. diplomat on the island. At the airport, American students from St. George's University, an offshore medical school, were boarding charter flights arranged by the State Department. As he waited to board his plane, Brett Sollinger, of Phoenix, said students were safe but hungry after getting by on one meal a day consisting of rice and meat or chicken. ''Maybe we would get a [bread] roll,'' he said, eyeing the waiting jetliner. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM