Hurricane Gustav 'the end of the world'
Trees and telephone poles littered the streets and houses were missing doors and roofs, as residents of Los Palacios, western Cuba, despaired today at Hurricane Gustav's path of destruction.
The raging Category 4 cyclone tore over the island nation the previous evening after claiming at least 81 lives in its sweep across the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
Los Palacios, in the western tobacco-growing Pinar del Rio province, was one of Cuba's first municipalities to be thrashed by Gustav late yesterday.
"It's the end of the world. We're going to take 20 years to recover," said 32-year-old resident Jose Rodriguez as he stared across the debris-strewn streets.
Some 7000 homes, most made of wood with tile roofs, in Los Palacios - a town of 17,000 inhabitants 100km west of the capital Havana - were no match for the raging storm.
During the night, roof tiles launched by Gustav's gusts flew around the streets like rockets as wind and rain hammered and damaged churches, schools and poultry plants.
There were reports of dozens of injuries but no immediate reports of deaths from the storm, which ploughed across the Isle of Youth and then Pinar del Rio yesterday with sustained top winds of 240km/h.
"There's serious damage to all the municipality's infrastructure, the telephone network is down, they've lost rice and yucca (plantain) crops and a lot of state businesses are affected," said Emilio Triana, president of the Defence Council. He directed the evacuation of more than 17,000 of the municipality's 39,000 inhabitants.
"But we only have seven injuries," he added.
Western Cuba without power
Meanwhile, the entire western part of Cuba - including the 2.2 million people in the capital Havana - was without power, and authorities said it would be some time before electricity could be restored.
Concerns had risen dramatically over the crowded and charming colonial era Old Havana, whose fragile, centuries-old buildings are prone to cave-ins after heavy rains.
More than 300,000 people had been evacuated from the storm's path, particularly from coastal towns, as Cuba's communist authorities ordered most of the island's 11 million people to brace for the worst.
"The 1944 cyclone was big, but this was bigger," said 70-year-old Armando Gonzalez, who had to be evacuated from Los Palacios with his family after his house collapsed. His 71-year-old wife Irma Mayra sobbed as rescue workers led her to safety.
"The tiles flew off the roof, we have no kitchen left," she said.
Nearby, an avocado tree that managed to resist the storm had shattered pieces of roof tiles wedged deeply into its trunk.
"A year's work of repairs and painting for July 26 (a national holiday) was lost in an hour and a half," said Ricardo Rodriguez, a journalist for Radio Guama, after a visiting damaged areas.
Material damage was overwhelming across the area.
The districts of Candelaria, Bahia Honda, San Cristobal and La Palma were also badly affected. In Paso Real de San Diego, winds reached a record 340km/h.
"The town is practically destroyed," said Yosvani Izquierdo, a local meteorological expert.
In the middle of the hurricane, the rain and wind stopped for a half an hour in Los Palacios.
In bright light, residents spilled onto the streets as authorities rushed to warn them: "It's the eye of the storm, return to your homes".
Half an hour later, rain and strong winds once again whipped the town, as residents waited for calm, with no electricity and unable to sleep as the wind howled.
By early today air and sea transport remained halted but authorities said communications would slowly be restored beginning tomorrow.
Gustav swept into the Gulf of Mexico overnight where it was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, but it was still forecast to slam the US Gulf Coast as a monster storm midday tomorrow.
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