Tropical Storm Emily threatens Grenada

St. GEORGE'S, Grenada -- Grenadian police ordered people off the streets and businesses closed Wednesday as Tropical Storm Emily threatened an island still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan last year.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, the center of Emily was about 85 miles southeast of Grenada.

The storm had sustained winds of 60 mph and was heading west at about 18 mph.

Prime Minister Keith Mitchell sought to reassure citizens the government would not be caught off-guard -- as it was when Ivan killed 39 people and left a wasteland of ruined buildings in September.

Grenadians rushed home under heavy rain, forming traffic jams in the capital of St. George's. Islanders had flocked to the stores Tuesday, snapping up canned food, water and batteries. The rush contrasted with the attitude before Ivan, when islanders took few precautions.

At least 100 people evacuated to a shelter at a high school in the southeastern part of Grenada, said Angela Pierre, the shelter's manager. Thirty-five other shelters across the country also reported taking people in. The government declared a state of emergency as a precaution.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, the center of Emily was about 90 miles northeast of Trinidad and 85 miles southeast of Grenada, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm had sustained winds of 60 mph and was heading west at about 18 mph.

Commerce halted across the eastern Caribbean as Emily bore down.

BP oil company evacuated nonessential staff from its 14 offshore oil platforms in Trinidad, leaving 11 employees to operate two platforms to fulfill its contractual obligations to provide gas for the country, the company said.

Forecasters predicted that Emily would not strengthen before clearing the Windward Islands and governments downgraded hurricane warnings to tropical storm warnings for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and other islands in the region. A tropical storm warning also covered the northeastern coast of Venezuela.

Tropical storm watches were in effect for the Dutch islands of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba.

In Grenada, the government ordered people off the streets and opened shelters across the island.

The struggle to recover from Ivan has prevented Grenada from thoroughly preparing for this year's hurricane season. Amid a shortage of construction supplies, many islanders still have no roofs and some children are still taught under tarps. Ivan's destruction left few buildings viable as shelters.

"If the situation gets worse then I'll have to go to the shelter but meantime I'll stick to my prayers," said Winston St. Bernard, 51.

In St. Vincent, people placed boards over window and businesses were supposed to close at noon, though some remained open amid a light drizzle and increasingly dark skies.

"We've got to be prepared and that's what we're doing," said Cordell Roberts, 39, a fisherman who was helping to pull boats from the water in the capital, Kingstown. "People are very conscious about the weather. It's not like the old days when we took it for granted."

St. Lucians also lined up at stores and the government ordered businesses to close in the afternoon. The island's two main airports remained opened, though British Airways canceled its flights from Hewanorra International Airport in the south.

Emily trails Hurricane Dennis, which destroyed crops and killed at least 25 people in Haiti and 16 in Cuba and Haiti last week, according to authorities in the two countries.

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Associated Press reporters Philip Spooner in Bridgetown, Barbados, Andres Leighton in Kingstown, St. Vincent and Guy Ellis in Castries, St. Lucia and Tony Fraser in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad contributed to this report.