| Hurricane
Tips |
Here
are some helpful tips to get you ready this hurricane
season.
| Before
a Hurricane threatens |
When
a hurricane threatens |
- Look
over your insurance policy to insure it provides
adequate coverage.
- Check
the storm surge history and elevation of your
area.
- Make
an inventory of possessions.
- Photograph
your house and all the rooms inside for insurance
purposes.
- Make
sure your roofing is properly fastened and secure.
make all necessary repairs.
- Obtain
lumber, plywood, and concrete nails for battening
up.
- Know
your evacuation route.
- Organize
a place to meet with your family should you
become separated during the storm.
- Clear
your yard and drains of debris.
- Prune
trees limbs that are close to your house. They
can cause damage to your home or utility wires
during a storm.
- Find
a place to move your boat in an emergency
- If
your home is at risk, plan in advanced where
you will stay. Call the ODPEM Disaster Co-ordinator
for the location of the nearest shelter.
- If
you need transportation to a public shelter
due to special needs -- such as age, physical
disability, or mental disorders; register in
advance with the nearest Parish Council Office
and the Office of Disaster Preparedness.
|
- Turn
refrigerator and freezer to the coldest level.
Freeze water in plastic containers.
- Sanitize
bath tubs and fill with water.
- Tie
down or bring in all outdoor objects (such as
awnings, patio furniture, garbage cans).
- Secure
or remove satellite dishes, TV or radio antennae
from roofs.
- Pick
fruits such as coconuts, mangoes etc., from
trees. Clear your yard and drains of debris.
- Remove
all pictures, clocks, books, figurines, tools,
office equipment, appliances and important papers
(passports, birth certificates etc.); wrap them
in plastic or in waterproof containers; and
store in a safe room.
- Turn
off electricity at the main switch and remove
TV and radio antennae from roofs.
- Stock
up on water and non-perishable foods. Refill
prescriptions needed.
- Fill
your car with gas to avoid long lines after
the hurricane. Also fill containers for portable
generators.
- Park
your car in a place that is safest from falling
trees and utility poles.
- If
you are in a high-rise, know the location of
the nearest stairways. Don't use the elevator.
- Batten
down windows and doors with shutters or lumber.
Wedge sliding glass doors with a bar.
-
Turn off electricity from main switch 24 hours
before the storm is expected to hit.
- Unplug
major appliances.
|
| During
the hurricane |
After
the storm |
- Be
calm! Your ability to act logically is very
important.
- Stay
inside. Do not go outside unless it is absolutely
necessary
- Stay
away from windows and doors even if they are
covered. A windowless or interior room or hallway
is usually the safest.
- Listen
to the radio for information
- If
you are in a two-storey house, stay on the first
floor.
- If
you are in a multiple-storey building, take
refuge on the first or second floors. Interior
stairwells and areas around elevator shafts
are usually the strongest part of a building.
- If
your house shows signs of breaking up, stay
under a table or stand under a door frame.
- Do
not go outside during the calm when the eye
of the hurricane is passing.
|
- Wait
until you hear on the radio or television that
the dangerous winds are definitely out of your
area.
- Do
not go sight-seeing
- Do
not go outside barefooted. Avoid wearing open
shoes and watch out for sharp debris
- Do
not use phones or CB radios unless vital. Keep
lines clear for emergency calls.
- Bury
all dead animals as soon as possible.
- Beware
of downed power lines, weakened bridges and
washed-out roads, and weakened trees.
- Purify
drinking water by boiling or by adding bleach,
2 drops of bleach per litre of water, 4 drops
if the water is cloudy. Do not purify all your
water at once.
- After
adding bleach, let water stand for 30 minutes
before drinking
- Use
perishable food first , then non- perishable
foods and staples after.
- Do
not cook more than is needed for one meal
- Be
alert to prevent fires
- Report
broken sewer or water mains to local authorities
- Be
sure to check your house for structural damage
before moving back in.
|
| Emergency
supply list |
OTHERS |
- Water,
enough to last 2 weeks
- Foods
that do not require cooking:
- Canned
or salted fish and meat
- Packaged
oats
- Biscuits
and crackers
- Condensed
or powdered milk
- Canned
soups and vegetables
- Juices
- Cereals
- Coffee,
Tea.
- Flour,
Rice, Cornmeal, Sugar and Salt
- Infant
formula
- Bread
|
- Battery-operated
radio
- Flashlight
- Extra
batteries
- Matches
and candles, Hurricane lamps
- Bleach
and other cleaners
- First
Aid Kit: petroleum jelly, aspirin, eye wash,
bandages, cotton,
diarrhoea medication, antacid , laxative
- Tissue,
soap, sanitary napkins
- Disposable
cups, plates, utensils
- Can
opener
- Large
plastic trash bags
- Containers
for water and fuel storage
- Coal
or oil stove, barbeque grill
- Cooking
utensils
- Portable
cooler
- 100
feet of rope, Tape
- Needle
and thread, scissors
- Blankets
and towels
- Mosquito
repellent
- Tarpailin
(canvas or plastic)
|
| Storage
tips for water and food |
Evacuation
and shelters |
- Store
enough water to last 2 weeks for each person
in your household. A normal active person requires
a minimum of 1 litre of water per day for drinking
and food preparation.
- Water
should be stored in clean, well covered containers.
- Label
the containers with the current date and renew
your drinking supply each month.
- Store
emergency food in waterproof containers.
- Arrange
items so that those stored first will be used
first.
- Observe
expiration dates on packaged foods.
- Wrap
bread, cookies and crackers, dry good in plastic
bags and keep in tight containers.
- Your
storage area should be dry, cool and free from
contamination by insects, poisons and other
chemicals.
- Several
utility poles were uprooted and their wires
and equipment left dangling on the roads after
Hurricane Gilbert.
|
A
shelter provides temporary housing for persons
unable to continue their living arrangements in
separate family units, as a result of an emergency
incident such as flood, earthquake or hurricane.
It is advised to evacuate your home if:
- in
an area that continually floods, near the coastline
or a stream likely to overflow, in a low-lying
area,
- you
feel that your home will not offer adequate
protection
- advised
by authorities
- Take
your own supplies to the shelter including food,
change of clothes, medicine, sanitary need,
battery-operated radio and flashlight important
papers.
- Do
not take alcoholic beverages, weapons or pets
to shelters.
|
All
Research by Heather Kong The Gleaner
Source: ODPEM
|
south of New Orleans history a very large Category 4 hurricane
moved from the western tip of Cuba to Louisiana, and even
though the center never got any closer than 200 miles from
the Panhandle, hurricane conditions and a storm surge flooded
Escambia Bay.
Apalachicola
history this storm formed in the western Caribbean and moved
across the western tip of Cuba, then northward to Gulf County,
21 deaths
Hurricane
in Cuba, kills 600
Category
SS-5
Date September 9th 1932
Affected provinces Camagüey / Ciego de Ávila /
Las Tunas
Barometric minimum 915 hPa (not registered over Cuba)
Wind speed 240 km/h (At Nuevitas, Camagüey)
Main feature storm surge
Material damages not exactly quantified
Human loss 3 033 death and thousands injured and affected
Synopsis
It constitutes the greatest natural disaster of the XX century
in Cuba. It mainly affected buildings on the province of Camagüey,
but coastal facilities on the south coast were completely
devastated. This hurricane produced a 6 m storm surge at Santa
Cruz del Sur and other locations on the south coast of Camagüey.
On this village alone it caused over 2500 death.
| October
4, 1963 Hurricane Flora |
Kills
6,000 in Cuba & Haiti
Mississippihistory
The most intense hurricane to ever make landfall on the mainland
U.S., Camille formed in the NW corner of the Caribbean from
an African easterly wave and rapidly developed into a 200
MPH
hurricane as it crossed the western tip of Cuba and entered
the SE Gulf of Mexico. Prior to the advent of more sophisticated
computer models, like those the NHC uses today, hurricane
forecasters had difficulty forecasting the track of storms.
For two days, as Camille moved NW toward Gulfport, MS, forecasters
in Miami continued to predict the storm would begin to curve
toward the Florida coast, with landfall expected between Pensacola
and Panama City, but the storm never curved and the eye slammed
into the coast near Bay St Louis. The track did put NW Florida
in the right front quadrant of the circulation as it passed
to our south, generating huge swells and waves which caused
extensive beach erosion from Destin westward. However, this
was insignificant when compared to the immense damage and
loss of life which occurred in Mississippi and the Delta region
of Louisiana, where the pressure dropped to 909 mb at landfall
and the storm surge exceeded 24 feet at Pass Christian, MS.
Damage totalled $1.4 billion (1969 dollars, approximately
$6.1 billion in today's dollars) with 256 deaths.
just
west of Dauphin Island history Frederic was another storm
which was in the process of rapidly intensifying prior to
landfall of the eye along the Miss/Ala border SW of Mobile.
It strengthened from a Cat 1 to a Cat 4 in 30 hours. During
its early history in the Atlantic and Caribbean, its development
was inhibited by outflow from David, a major hurricane several
hundered miles out ahead of Frederic.As it followed in David's
wake, where ocean waters had been cooled, it did not get an
opportunity to develop until David moved up the east coast
of Florida and Frederic continued westward, emerging into
the southeast Gulf of Mexico near the western tip of Cuba.
From there, the storm followed a path very similar to Camille,
except shifted about 75 miles farther to the east than the
1969 storm. It was about 70 miles south of Eglin AFB at its
closest approach and generated a very large and destructive
storm surge along the beaches of Perdido Key, just west of
Pensacola. Hardest hit was Dauphin Island, which received
a 15 foot storm surge and 145 MPH winds, wiping out virtually
every beach condominium on the island and washing out the
eight mile causeway connecting it to the mainland. From Gulf
Shores and Bayou La Batre ,AL to Ocean Springs, MS, all waterfront
property was either destroyed or severely damaged, especially
in Pascagoula, MS, where the eye passed overhead and hundreds
of millions of dollars damage was done to the huge Ingalls
Shipyard complex where U.S. Navy ships are constructed. The
total damage approached $3 billion (1979 dollars) , making
Frederic the 5th most destructive storm in U.S. history.
| October
18 1996, Hurricane Lili |
| (CNN)
-- Havana was spared a direct hit on Friday as Hurricane
Lili blew into Cuba after killing at least eight people
in Central America. The storm's path was expected to take
it across Cuba's mainland, through the Florida Straits
separating Cuba and Florida and toward the Bahamas. |
 |
Scores of deteriorated buildings in downtown Havana collapsed
in heavy winds and rains preceding the storm. Hours later,
Lili set a more easterly course without causing additional
damage in the capital as had been feared. There were no
reports of injuries or deaths, the official Prensa Latina
news agency said Friday morning. |
President
Fidel Castro visited the the town of Surgidero de Batabano
on Cuba's southern coast Friday and urged residents
to comply with emergency plans meant to minimize damage.
Appearing on state television late Thursday, a worried-
looking Castro warned Cubans to prepare for an onslaught
that he said could prove "catastrophic." He
welcomed scores of evacuees from the Havana neighborhood
of La Timba into the National Palace, where they were
to wait out the storm.
Some
Cubans won't evacuate
Civil defense workers went door-to-door in the rain
in some of the capital's more deteriorated neighborhoods,
persuading residents to seek shelter in sturdier buildings.
By nightfall Thursday, at least 28,000 residents had
been evacuated from low-lying coastal areas. Thousands
of others refused to leave their homes for fear of looting.
Cuban authorities said that 80,000 people would have
to be evacuated from dangerous dwellings in Havana alone.
In Havana's hospitals, all but the sickest patients
were asked to go home so there would be empty beds in
the event of heavy casualties. Schools sent home 100,000
students. Impact on Central America
In Central America, Lili left thousands homeless and
stranded more as rain-gorged rivers made bridges and
roads impassable in Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Costa Rican authorities said a child and two adults
were reported dead Wednesday, in addition to five drownings
reported in the region on Tuesday.
|
Ocean
Springs, MS history storm report from NHC Georges formed in
the tropical Atlantic from a vigorous African wave and quickly
deepened to near-Category Five status as dropsondes released
into the eyewall by reconnaissance aircraft measured winds
near the surface as high as 147 knots, and up to 152 knots
at 10,000 feet (with an eye SLP of 937mb) east of the Lesser
Antilles. Georges weakened prior to moving across these islands
and striking Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. However, very
heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding that killed over
600 people and washed many villages away (damage in the Caribbean
exceeded 3 billion dollars).
 |
The
storm fluctuated in intensity over this two-day journey
across the islands, as it weakened moving across mountainous
terrain, only to re-intensify each time it emerged back
over the warm ocean waters. It moved into the Gulf of
Mexico near Key West and curved northward reaching the
Mississippi coast as a Category Two storm. |
While
sustained winds never reached hurricane force in NW Florida
(the strongest wind clocked at Eglin AFB was an isolated gust
to 79 knots in a feeder band), there were several reports
of tornadoes being spawned by Georges in and around the Eglin
reservation. It was also responsible for the heaviest rainfall
event on record at the base with a total of 19.16 inches falling
over a 72 hour period including 9.60 inches on the 28th of
September, the most ever measured at Eglin on a single day.
Flooding
was limited in Okaloosa County, but extensive in other locations
in the Panhandle with $340 million in damage to Florida, and
over $3 billion total for the Gulf states. The worst damage
occurred in coastal Mississippi where much of Jackson County
was cut off by high water and was without electricity and
telephone service for several days. In Cuba, two deaths were
blamed on Georges. Cuban President Fidel Castro went on TV
for the second day in a row to give advice. "We can't
be too trusting, because hurricanes play tricks," he
said. Reports from Cuba's eastern provinces described widespread
flooding, crop destruction, and damage to roads and buildings.
State media said more than 2,000 houses in Holguin and Guantanamo
were below water, and officials in Guantanamo said coffee
and banana crops had been ruined.
| October
14, 1999: Hurricane
Irene threatens Cuba |
MIAMI
(Reuters) -- The ninth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane
season became a hurricane early Thursday, threatening Havana
and western Cuba and on a track for Florida. Tropical storm
watches were issued for lower and middle Florida. At 5 a.m.
EDT, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane
Irene was about 125 miles south-southwest of Havana, near
latitude 21.6 north and longitude 83.7 west. It was moving
north at about 7 mph, a track it was expected to continue
through Thursday. Maximum sustained winds were at minimum
hurricane strength of about 75 mph, with hurricane force winds
extending 15 miles (24 kms) and tropical storm winds extending
115 miles. Rains of from 6 to 12 inches were forecast for
the path of the storm.
 |
On
Wednesday, Cuba's government issued a hurricane warning
for the western provinces of Pinar Del Rio, Havana, Ciudad
Havana and the Isle of Youth. A hurricane watch was issued
for the lower and middle Florida Keys west of Craig Key,
including the Dry Tortugas. |
The
Keys are a 110-mile-long chain of low-lying islands off the
southern tip of the state. Squalls and gusty winds were spreading
northward over the Caymans, a three-island British colony
south of Cuba, and parts of Cuba and the Florida Straits separating
Cuba from the Florida Keys, forecasters said.
| November
5, 2001, Hurricane Michelle batters Cuba |
Hurricane
Michelle is losing strength as it tears through Cuba, but
its winds and rains have caused mass evacuations, floods,
and huge tidal surges. Gusts of wind up to 120 kilometres
per hour (75mph) were recorded in the capital Havana, as the
island faced its most powerful hurricane for more than 50
years. The Cuban authorities have evacuated at least 700,000
people from low-lying areas. But the force of the hurricane
has been downgraded from four to three - on a scale from one
to five - as it slowed over Cuba's central mountains. Tourists
have been taken from resorts to hotels in the capital, and
student camps on the southern Zapata peninsula have been evacuated.
All national and international flights have been cancelled
and public transport suspended.
| Electricity
in the capital has been cut off to avoid accidents with
falling power cables. "The whole of Havana is in
total darkness, everyone is using candles," one resident
said. Reports say that large areas of agricultural land,
especially in the west and centre of the country, have
been devastated and homes have been damaged. |
|
| There
is also severe flooding, mostly in coastal areas. The
state television, running on emergency generators, spoke
of medical workers wading knee-deep through sea water
in Havana's main hospital. |
 |
Successful
preparation But there are few reports of casualties.
The BBC correspondent in Havana, Daniel Schweimler, says
this is probably thanks to the huge civil defence operation
launched by the Cuban authorities over the past few days.
"Don't worry, we'll survive the hurricane. We're
well prepared," Cuban President Fidel Castro told
his public. "Fortunately [the hurricane] crossed
rapidly." |
As
Hurricane Michelle clears Cuba on Monday, it could hit the
southern tip of Florida, before heading out towards the Bahamas.
In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush has declared a state of emergency,
and residents in the Florida Keys and South Florida have been
advised to evacuate their homes. Homes and businesses are
already being boarded up in southern Florida, and people are
being told to stock up on food.
Wreaking
havoc Earlier, Hurricane Michelle led to the deaths
of at least 12 people in Central America, as heavy rains flooded
rivers and caused mudslides. Thousands of residents of the
Atlantic coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua have been left homeless.
Ten people were confirmed dead in Honduras, where some coastal
areas received half their usual annual rainfall in five days
last week. Atlantic coast residents were reportedly trapped
for days on rooftops or patches of high ground, and some were
said to be surviving on the carcasses of drowned farm animals.
In Nicaragua, officials say some 10,000 people have been made
homeless by the hurricane. The two countries are still struggling
to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch
in 1998, when some 20,000 people were killed in the region,
and more than six billion dollars' worth of damage was caused.
 |
Downpour
in Cuba
On
Friday, Isidore battered western Cuba, with winds of
up to 160 km/h (100mph) and heavy rains. The storm uprooted
trees and blew off some rooftops in Mantua, about 140km
(85 miles) west of Havana, before moving towards the
Gulf of Mexico. |
About
250,000 people and thousands of farm animals were evacuated
in Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, and the island's civil defence
programme was activated. No fatalities have been reported.
Cuban
President Fidel Castro travelled to the worst hit area to
personally supervise evacuation and emergency measures. He
heaved a sigh of relief after the storm veered from its initial
trajectory, when it threatened to batter more populous areas
of Cuba. The storm dumped about 63cm (25in) of rain in 24
hours, damaging tobacco stocks, the source of the best leaves
for Cuba's famed cigars. As the storm pulled away, President
Castro said it would not hinder Cuba's efforts to recover
from the damage caused by last year's Hurricane Michelle,
which destroyed thousand of homes. Michelle - a category four
storm which battered Cuba last November - killed five people
and cause $1.8bn damage.
US
aid. The food crisis caused by that hurricane led
to the first US-authorised commercial shipments of food to
the communist island since the US imposed a trade embargo
in 1962. In 1998, Hurricane Georges also left six people dead
in Cuba and hundreds killed across the Caribbean. The constant
damage wrought by hurricanes has led to the formation in Cuba
of local neighbourhood watch groups which co-operate with
civil defence officials. The Atlantic hurricane season typically
lasts from June to November. The storms which form later in
the season tend to be more slow-moving, giving them more time
to gather force, heavy rains and potentially deadly floods.
August
13, 2004 10:00 AM
Hurricane Charley pounds Havana
By Anthony Boadle
 |
HAVANA
(Reuters) - Hurricane Charley has pummelled western
Cuba and darkened Havana with howling winds that uprooted
coconut
trees and ripped roofs off houses on its furious path
to the Florida coast. |
Charley
packed winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and a 10-14 foot (3-4 metre)
storm surge when it hit Cuba's southern coast at midnight
near
the fishing village of Guanimar. The
storm uprooted coconut trees and ripped off roofs of houses,
people in nearby Batabano said.
The
hurricane crossed Cuba at its narrowest point, losing some
intensity as it headed for the north coast at Baracoa, just
west of Havana. The capital city and its province endured
the onslaught in total darkness, as authorities cut off power
to avoid electrical accidents. "It's a disaster. The
gusts smashed windows and doors, and lifted off the roof of
a shelter," said a local official in San Antonio de los
Banos, a town in the storm's path 22 miles (34 km) south of
Havana.
Weather
experts said Charley would regain strength and become a "major"
hurricane as it headed out over the Florida Straits on a path
toward the fragile Florida Keys island chain and the densely
populated St. Petersburg-Tampa area. Emergency officials on
Thursday ordered more than 600,000 people in western Florida
to leave seaside dwellings, mobile homes and low-lying areas
before Charley's arrival.
Racing
winds and heavy rainfall scattered debris in the empty streets
of Havana, a city of 2 million, were residents left work at
midday to form long lines to buy food and water and rush home
to secure their houses.
Cuban
President Fidel Castro, who turned 78 on Friday, showed up
after midnight at Cuba's weather centre and discussed Charley's
advance for an hour on a live television broadcast. He was
pleased the full force of the storm did not hit Havana directly.
"This
was like a birthday present from Nature, a special present,
because a hurricane can cause most damage in a capital city,
to housing industry and electricity lines," said Castro,
dressed in his trademark green uniform.
EYE
ON THE STORM
Authorities
on Thursday evacuated 149,000 people from flood-prone areas
of western Cuba and precarious colonial-era buildings in danger
of collapse in downtown Havana. About 1,300 tourists were
flown out of Key Largo off the south coast. Havana's airport
was closed and flights diverted to the seaside resort of Varadero.
At 2 a.m. EDT (7 a.m. British time), Charley was 14 miles
(22 km) west of downtown Havana, at latitude 23.0 north and
longitude 82.6 west, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre in
Miami said. It was moving north-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph).
The
eye of Charley was expected to cross the southeastern Gulf
of Mexico toward the west coast of Florida later on Friday,
strengthening into a major hurricane as it approached, the
centre said. Hurricane warnings stretched up the west coast
of Florida and a storm watch was declared for the southeast
coast up to South Carolina. Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush said 2 million people could be affected if Charley
pounds the tourist resort island of Key West and then curves
into Florida's west coast. In total, 6.5 million Americans
lay in the storm's potential path, the U.S. Census Bureau
said.
 |
Hurricane
Ivan brushes Cuba's tip
BBC-
Tuesday, 14 September, 2004, 06:29 GMT 07:29 UK -
One of the fiercest storms on record is moving towards
the Gulf of Mexico after lashing the western tip of
Cuba. |
Hurricane
Ivan battered the island with winds gusting at 300km/h (186mph),
after leaving a trail of destruction across the Caribbean.
The
hurricane had been expected to hit Cuba head on, but the centre
drifted west into a sparsely populated area. It now seems
to be heading towards the southern United States, but a hurricane
warning remains in force in Mexico. The hurricane touched
the tip of Cuba at 1845 (2245GMT), according to the head of
the country's National Meteorology Institute.
Snub
The
BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Havana says there is a sense of relief
as the country sees the back of Ivan. The island certainly
is not unscathed. The damage resulting from nearly 24 hours
of very high winds and torrential rain has yet to be assessed
- but everyone knows that it could have been much worse, our
correspondent says. About 1.3 million Cubans were evacuated
and thousands across the country sat out the storm in government
shelters.
President
Fidel Castro - who visited the region - made repeated TV appearances
ahead of Ivan's arrival and urged people to follow instructions
from state officials. Mr Castro also said he would not accept
"a penny" in hurricane aid from the United States.
"The hurricane before this they offered $50,000, an insignificant
amount," he said referring to aid Washington proposed
following Hurricane Charley last month.
| Hurricane
Dennis: July 2005 |
Hurricane
Dennis kills 10 in Cuba
Saturday July 9 2005
 |
More
than half-a-million people across Cuba have fled
their homes.
A hurricane has killed at least 10 people in Cuba
and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.
|
Hurricane
Dennis made landfall in the south-east of the country
on Friday, bringing torrential rains and winds of up
to 240km/h (150mph).
The
storm is expected to pass east of the capital, Havana,
travelling into the Gulf of Mexico before hitting southern
Florida at the weekend. Earlier it killed at least 10
in Haiti and caused heavy flooding in Jamaica.
Hurricane
Dennis has "arrived, with all its diabolical force",
Cuban President Fidel Castro said. He added that eight
people had died in Granma province and two in Santiago.
The storm also damaged buildings and knocked out power.
About 600,000 people have fled their homes. Cuban Meteorological
Institute chief Jose Rubiera said the storm made landfall
at 1300 (1700 GMT) near the central province of Cienfuegos.
At the US navy base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southern
tip of Cuba, a guard tower was torn down by the fierce
winds.
The
storm later weakened from a category four hurricane
to a category two, but it is expected to gain strength
again once it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. At 2300 (0300
GMT), the storm was 30km (20 miles) east of Havana and
about 180km (110 miles) south of Key West in Florida.
The hurricane is expected to dump up to 38cm of rain
on eastern Cuba, according to the US National Hurricane
Center (NHC) in Miami.
The
hurricane is the strongest to form in the Atlantic this
early in the season since records began in 1851, the
centre said.
|
| Hurricane
Wilma Oct 2005 |
BY
GABRIEL DAVALOS
 |
SINCE
dawn on Wednesday, October 26, engineers’
units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), supported
by brigades from several construction contingents,
have been collecting debris and cleaning up Havana’s
seafront highway and boardwalk, the Malecón. |
Repair
work was concentrated on 13 points between Manrique
Street, in the Central Havana neighborhood, and Calzada
in El Vedado. It also includes reestablishing a bridge
that was affected in the same area.
Most
of the damage is along northbound section of the Malecón,
where the sea water lifted up asphalt and pieces of
sidewalk and knocked down part of the wall.
The
troops arrived at dawn to begin their mission. Second
Lieutenant Eliécer Barbán Garcés,
of a FAR engineers’ unit, began demolition and
debris cleanup duties along with his soldiers at 8:00
a.m. in front of the Ameijeiras Hospital. "When
we got here, we reviewed the area to organize our work
and then began," he said.
The
FAR engineers’ units, along with brigades from
the Blas Roca, Raúl Roa and Compaña de
Las Villas contingents, and forces from Construction
Enterprise No. 5 of the Ministry of Construction, were
planning to work 24 hours around the clock until the
Malecón can be opened to traffic again.
|
Thanks
to:
-
Photo's : www.sun-sentinel.com
- Text:
www.cnn.com | news.bbc.co.uk | Reuters | www.brainyhistory.com
- Text:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
- BBC
News
- Reuters
- Tjello
Links:
|
