Storm anxiety swirling in Caribbean

Caribbean islanders still get night sweats recalling the dark hours in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma's shrieking gales and drenching rain unearthed caskets from cemeteries, tossing corpses onto porches and roofs in the Bahamas.

Forecasters predict warmer waters will bring more tropical storms than normal this Atlantic hurricane season, which begins Friday and runs through November. Nerves are on edge across the region, and psychologists helping people cope with fears of displacement and chaos say post-traumatic stress disorder is evident among some victims of monster storms.

"No doubt about it, the word 'hurricane' is a bad word here. With all the recent hot and dry weather, everyone is tense that we're in for a hard season," said psychologist Pamula Mills, who helps relieve storm stress for the Bahamian Ministry of Education.

Forecasters also predicted a stronger-than-average hurricane season last year, but that weather was muted by El Nino, the tropical Pacific warming effect that can change wind patterns in the eastern Atlantic.

Forecasters expect no such luck this year _ the latest El Nino cycle is over and the climate phenomenon should not influence this hurricane season, said Bill Proenza, head of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Other conditions could develop that encourage more storms this year than last, he added.

U.S. National Weather Service expects 13 to 17 tropical storms this year, with seven to 10 of them becoming hurricanes and three to five of them in the strong category.

Hurricanes are among nature's most powerful natural events. Spinning as fast as a race car, sheer walls of wind and rain can rise 10 miles into the stratosphere and span 400 miles, dwarfing most Caribbean island nations and territories.

Everyone in Grenada remembers the Category 5 Hurricane Ivan, which tore through in 2004, killing 39 people, damaging 90 percent of the buildings and shredding crops. Thousands of Grenadians showed symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress, the disorder usually associated with the horror of combat, said Gemma Bain-Thomas, permanent secretary of Grenada's Ministry of Health.

Three years later, trauma and fear linger. Governments in Grenada and Jamaica are among those informing islanders about medical centers that can help them cope with their anxiety, and social workers trained to identify severe trauma after Ivan will get a refresher course to help people this season, Bain-Thomas said.

"There seems to be more anticipatory anxiety right now, and this is particularly true for those who have suffered losses," said Peter Weller, psychologist at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. He said symptoms include a general fear of death, the fear of losing loved ones and losing livelihoods.

Mental health experts say high-risk groups such as the elderly and children, who cannot always articulate their anxiety, often have the most difficulty coping with storm stress. Adults may turn to drugs and alcohol.

In Jamaica, Weller encourages islanders to look out for those who have previously suffered big losses from hurricanes because they can be so traumatized that they avoid preparing for the new storm season altogether.

"The emotional dimension of the season can be intense and there can a lot of things happening under the surface," said Weller.

He also reminds islanders that their odds of survival are great: "It's important to remember that your grandparents made it through, your parents made it through, and chances are that you will, too."