Weakening Hurricane Lenny's death toll reaches 12

By MICHAEL ALEXANDER

The Associated Press

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten --- Relief workers fanned out across the eastern Caribbean on Saturday to assess damage from Lenny, a late- season hurricane that killed at least 12 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Lenny, which was downgraded Friday to a tropical storm as it drifted east toward the open Atlantic, left thousands of people without power as it rampaged across a region encompassing at least 16 islands.

U.S. Coast Guard crews recovered the body of Carl Wake, 43, of Bradenton, Fla., about 4 miles west of the island of Saba, said Petty Officer Terry Holster in San Juan.

Wake and a companion, Steve Righby, 54, of New York City, were last reported on a yacht off the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, 80 miles west of Saba, on Wednesday, when Lenny pounded the region with 150-mph winds. The search for Righby was continuing, Holster said.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency was mobilizing teams to go into Antigua, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis to assess damage and humanitarian needs, said deputy coordinator Audrey Mullings. Most damage in those islands was confined to coastal flooding, which could affect drinking water supplies, she said.

Mullings said the agency was working with the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Pan American Health Organization, the U.N. Development Program and the Canadian International Development Agency.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said St. Croix had been spared the worst of Lenny, with damage limited to minor flooding, some downed utility poles and at least 50 boats washed ashore.

France allocated $318,700 for emergency relief in its Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. Four people died in Guadeloupe, and more than 600 were left homeless on the two islands, officials said. Authorities in Martinique said no one died there, despite earlier reports of one hurricane-related death.

Earlier, Coast Guard crews rescued a St. Maarten man who had spent two days in 100-mph winds and 30-foot seas. His companion died.

Three people were killed in Dutch St. Maarten --- two struck by flying debris late Thursday and a motorist who died when the hillside road he was on collapsed.

Lenny also was blamed for one death in Puerto Rico and two in Colombia. One person was missing in Dominica.

The British Virgin Islands reported moderate damage but no injuries.

Lenny's winds reached 150 mph last week before dwindling to 50 mph --- tropical storm strength --- as it rapidly disintegrated. On Saturday, its poorly defined center was about 130 miles east of Dominica.

The storm killed livestock, stripped beaches of sand, flooded hotels and roads, downed utility lines and disrupted communications throughout the region.

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