Usa Forum - Cuba escapes storm with little damage

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8/29/2006 7:57:00 PM

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Cuba escapes storm with little damage

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

sent by Walter Lippmann (cubanews)

S. Florida Sun-Sentinel - Aug 29, 2006
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-aerncuba29aug29,0,539...

Cuba escapes storm with little damage

By Doreen Hemlock
Sun-Sentinel Havana Bureau

Cuba seems to have gotten off easy from its first hit this hurricane
season as Tropical Storm Ernesto, weakened by mountains, brought
limited rains to a small area.

The government had evacuated more than 80,000 people in the eastern
provinces to prepare for the storm, but Ernesto skirted major
population centers and failed to bring downpours that could have
forced major rivers or dams to overflow, state media said Monday
evening. By late afternoon, Ernesto was off the northern Cuban coast,
near the provincial capital of Camaguey in eastern Cuba.

Most affected was the easternmost Guantanamo province, where Ernesto
made landfall at Playa Cazonal and where Imias village posted nearly
7 inches of rain by early afternoon. But officials said no deaths
were reported and damage in the province was minimal.

In Havana, residents were confident the government would run a tight
ship nationwide to move those in danger, house and feed them in
shelters and repair possible damage. State TV and radio have been
broadcasting storm updates and advisories for days, detailing the
projected path and reminding residents to evacuate if needed, stay
inside during rains and avoid electric wires thereafter.

Havana residents were used to the drill, and none expected Ernesto to
hit their northwestern city.

Communist-led Cuba takes pride in its hurricane preparation, with
evacuations routinely ordered to reduce casualties.

Cubans moved cattle to higher ground, tourists were evacuated from
hotels in the southeastern province of Granma and baseball games,
including a pre-Olympic qualifier between the United States and
Mexico, were rescheduled for earlier in the day. Train service across
the country was also stopped.

None of the prisoners being held at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay
because of suspected links to al-Qaida or the Taliban were exposed to
the weather. For the last three years, detainees have been kept in
cells without windows or with a single window that can be covered
with a heavy steel shutter. The cells replaced the steel cages where
prisoners were initially held.

Military personnel, except for guards and people in other critical
jobs, were told to stay in their quarters until the storm passed,
said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a U.S. Department of Defense
spokesman.

Yet in South Florida, residents with family and friends in Cuba
worried. Many tried to call loved ones in eastern Cuba but couldn't
get through during the height of the storm.

Davie resident Irina Vilarina, whose family owns South Florida's Las
Vegas chain of Cuban restaurants, was pleased to learn her
grandmother, Eva Aguilera, 95, was safe at a family home in Bayamo in
Granma.

"Whenever there's any kind of crisis, we get very anxious," said
Vilarina, 30. "They don't have the facilities we have here [in South
Florida]. We can run out to stores, buy water and take measures."

[Staff Writers Madeline Baro Diaz in Miami and Tal Abbady in Fort
Lauderdale contributed to this report, which was supplemented by
information from The Associated Press.]

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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Cuba escapes storm with little damage

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