World

Cuba braces for deadly hurricane

by Sanjay Jha | August 30, 2008 at 09:48 am | 384 views | 3 comments | 5 recommendations

World seems to be reeling under the calamities. While some part of India is badly suffering due to heavy flood, Cuba is getting ready for deadly Hurricane. After sweeping through Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica and killing more than 70 people and causing widespread damage.

The deadly hurricane's projected path also includes oil-producing Gulf of Mexico, before striking the US early next week. Gustav Hurricane has reached today close to east of Isla de la Juventud near the western tip of Cuba.

Mass evacuations are under way in Cuba hours before Hurricane Gustav is due to blow in after wreaking destruction around the Caribbean.
Some 13,000 residents and 4,000 tourists were evacuated on Friday from low-lying coastal regions and the capital Havana is also on storm alert.
Half a million sacks of valuable dried cigar tobacco have been stored away.
Gustav has reached Category 3 strength - the same as Katrina when it hit New Orleans in 2005 - and could increase.
The US city has issued a mandatory evacuation order for coastal districts, or parishes, which comes into force on Saturday.
Overnight, Gustav, which now packs maximum sustained winds of up to 205km/h (125mph), struck the low-lying Cayman Islands.

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Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:52 on August 30th, 2008

Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.

latvian98

at 10:16 on August 30th, 2008

The first bands of rain from Hurricane Gustav reached Lee County, Florida, early in the afternoon of August 30, 2008.

latvian98 has contributed a photo to this story.

carlaarena

at 12:17 on August 30th, 2008

Though Gustav is away from the Keys, it caused rain, gusty winds and a dark Saturday morning. The weather forecasters are reporting minute by minute reports of Gustav.

carlaarena has contributed a photo to this story.