Published Monday, November 5, 2001 in
The Miami Herald
Power out in Cuba; Michelle heads to Bahamas
By Anita Snow. Associated Press Writer. Posted at 6:33 a.m.
EST Monday, November 5, 2001
HAVANA -- (AP) -- Hurricane Michelle rolled toward the Bahamas today after
roaring across Cuba, forcing the government to shut down power for much of the
communist island and evacuate 750,000 people.
Forecasters said the storm had probably peaked by early Monday, but a
hurricane warning remained in effect for northwestern and central Bahamas.
Maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph, with higher gusts, according to
the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Some weakening was expected during the
day.
The hurricane warning for all of the Florida Keys has been replaced by a
tropical storm warning. But much of the area was evacuated as meteorologists
warned that the island chain likely would be brushed by the storm, which was
expected to hit the Bahamas by Monday morning.
Most businesses in the capital of Nassau had put up plywood and metal
shutters. A few stores stayed open Sunday, and shoppers scrambled for water,
batteries and canned food.
Flights to Andros Island, the first Bahamian island that comes along
Michelle's projected path, were canceled by Sunday afternoon. Some families
began moving to government shelters. "Everyone is quite relaxed,'' said
Diane Brown, assistant manager of a local yacht club on Andros Island.
On Sunday, Cuban leader Fidel Castro called an impromptu news conference in
Havana, saying 750,000 people had been evacuated to shelters, friend's homes or
other safe havens on this island of 11 million.
He also noted that Michelle entered Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, on the southern
Zapata Peninsula, comparing the hurricane to the invasion by a CIA-funded army
of exiles that landed there in a botched attempt to overthrow him 40 years ago.
"Our people are well organized, they have experience. The greatest
success will be to keep the number of victims low,'' he said.
The government shut off power across the western half of the island shortly
after the storm made landfall, some 70 miles southeast of Havana.
With communications nearly completely knocked out, conditions on Cuba were
unclear. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, and the only
confirmed damage was to a state television transmitting facility on the Isle of
Youth, off the main island's southern coast.
Michelle also created an 18-foot storm surge on the outlying island of Cayo
Largo on Cuba's south coast Sunday, but there was no immediate word on what
damage it caused.
The storm battered central-western Cuba during the day with sustained winds
of 125 mph, the Hurricane Center said. Over the last four days, 10 to 20 inches
of rain had fallen before ending late Sunday.
The storm has already killed a total of 12 people in Central America and
Jamaica.
In Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency Saturday, and a
mandatory evacuation order was issued for all of the Florida Keys on Sunday.
The chain of some 40 islands, stretching 128 miles, have more than 80,000
permanent residents, plus visitors. The keys are connected by highway bridges,
but only two spans connect the first island, Key Largo, to the mainland.
More than half a million leave their homes in Cuba
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com
With winds raging up to 135 mph, Hurricane Michelle plowed into the south
coast of Cuba on Sunday afternoon, deluging colonial buildings in Havana with
rain and seawater before heading toward the beaches of Varadero, the country's
premier tourist resort.
Communications with the island were spotty. But Cuban radio reports
monitored in Key West said the hardest hit areas were Matanzas, Cienfuegos,
Villa Clara and Sancti Spiritus with downed trees and power lines, and some
damage to structures.
No deaths were reported by late Sunday.
More than half a million people were forced to evacuate from low-lying areas
to escape the worst storms to descend on Cuba in decades.
Michelle made landfall by 4 p.m., skirting the Isle of Youth and coming
ashore about 70 miles southeast of Havana at the Zapata Peninsula, near the Bay
of Pigs on the south coast in the central province of Matanzas. The region is
home to two million of Cuba's 11 million citizens.
"Lots of trees have fallen,'' Eliseo, a ham operator in the Isle of
Youth, said soon after the storm passed by that region. "There is a lot of
wind, rain and flooding.''
In Havana, where 150,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas, the
streets were nearly deserted Sunday afternoon as heavy downpours and howling
winds drove residents indoors. Those with ocean-front homes taped their windows
to keep them from shattering and tied down water tanks on their roofs.
Gas stations and stores that sell imported food in U.S. dollars were crowded
throughout Sunday morning as residents stocked up on supplies. Most of the
government-run operations had closed by noon. All flights were grounded and
train service was halted.
Other ham radio operators from across the island reported eerie scenes.
"It's very cloudy, completely dark, as if it were the middle of the
night,'' Avilio, a ham operator in Ciego de Avila, in central Cuba, said shortly
after 5 p.m. "It is perfectly still, no wind. Let's see what comes next.
For now, everything is calm.''
In neighboring Sancti Spiritus province, Leo, another ham operator said: "It
is very hot here, suffocating heat. The winds are strong. It rains heavily, then
it stops. Rains and stops.''
Power was lost from Havana to Santa Clara, forcing Civil Defense officials
in Havana to rely on crackling reports received by ham radio operators from the
U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The International Red Cross in Geneva reported that 24,500 Red Cross
volunteers in Cuba were helping authorities in evacuation efforts. About 560,000
residents had been evacuated -- mostly to the homes of friends or family -- and
66,000 were in shelters. Meanwhile, about 625,000 head of livestock were herded
to higher ground.
The Ministry of Agriculture was to assess damage to crop and livestock.
Cuban authorities said they were preparing measures to prevent epidemics,
including the mandatory boiling of water.
Extensive power outages were reported across the island. Water supplies also
were cut off.
Rainfall accumulations of up to 20 inches were expected near the path of
Michelle as it made its way across Cuba. Forecasters projected it to exit
through Villa Clara province Sunday night.
For the two million residents of Havana, those who live in the century-old
buildings in the historic district feared losing their homes. Collapses after
storms are major seasonal concerns.
"Who is going to guarantee that this building is not going to
collapse?'' worried Clotilde Serrano, who lives in one of the better-preserved
buildings in the center of the city.
At nightfall, the eye of the storm was about 60 miles south of Varadero and
moving northeast at 13 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center in Miami
reported.
The center said a storm surge of about 20 feet was possible in areas near
eye's path. Reports from Havana said gusts of up to 75 miles per hour ripped
through the capital, and that there was flooding in low-lying coastal areas.
Staff writers Daniel A. Grech, Luisa Yanez and a staffer in Cuba contributed
to this report, which was supplemented with Herald wire services.
Michelle slams into Cuba with 135 mph winds
By Anita Snow. Associated Press. Posted at 9:49 p.m. EST
Sunday, November 4, 2001
HAVANA -- Powerful Hurricane Michelle slammed into Cuba's coast on Sunday,
packing winds up to 135 mph and heading toward the country's premier tourist
resort as the government evacuated more than a half-million people from
low-lying areas.
Heavy surf also pounded beaches in the lower Florida Keys, which forecasters
say will likely be brushed by Michelle's winds after it slices crosswise through
Cuba.
With forceful winds and a death toll of 12 already in Honduras, Nicaragua
and Jamaica, the storm had local relief officials worried.
"We are afraid that it will be our Mitch,'' said Virginia Huergo,
relief coordinator for the Cuban Red Cross, referring to the hurricane that
ravaged Central America in 1998.
"We are prepared for the worst,'' she said.
The International Red Cross in Geneva reported that 24,500 Red Cross
volunteers in Cuba were helping authorities of the communist government in
evacuation efforts. About 560,000 residents had been evacuated -- mostly to the
homes of friends or family -- and 66,000 were in shelters.
Michelle made landfall around 4 p.m. EST on the Zapata Peninsula, on Cuba's
southern coast in the central province of Matanzas near the Bay of Pigs, about
70 miles southeast of Havana, home to 2 million of Cuba's 11 million citizens.
It was moving northeast, putting Cuba's premier vacation resort, Varadero, near
its path.
Throughout the day, Michelle had spread heavy rains over Cuba as it neared
the island's coast. Accumulations of 10 to 20 inches were expected in its path.
Earlier, state television showed winds whipping palm trees along a deserted
street on the Isle of Youth, off the main island's southern coast.
Thousands of the Isle of Youth's 72,000 people had been moved from their
homes to more secure shelter, and all electricity on the island had been shut
off as a safety measure, Cuban television said.
The storm was not expected to strike Florida directly, but forecasters said
winds of 75 mph or more could reach the keys late Sunday or Monday.
Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency Saturday, and a mandatory
evacuation order was issued for all of the Florida Keys on Sunday.
"It's going to be close,'' said Stacy Stewart, a hurricane specialist
at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Heavy bands of rain with tropical storm force winds were spreading across
the Florida Straits and the Keys and moving toward the southeast coast of
Florida. Miami-Dade County officials ordered the evacuation of a portion of the
county and said its public schools would be closed Monday.
A hurricane warning also was in effect Sunday afternoon for the northwestern
and central islands of the Bahamas, including New Providence, where the capital,
Nassau, is located.
In Havana, where 150,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas, the
streets were nearly deserted Sunday afternoon as heavy rains and howling winds
drove residents indoors.
Havana residents with homes facing the ocean put tape on their windows to
keep them from shattering and tied down water tanks on their roofs.
On Sunday morning, there were long lines at gas stations and stores that
sell imported food in U.S. dollars as residents stocked up on supplies, but most
had shut down by noon.
Describing Michelle as "an extremely dangerous hurricane,'' the U.S.
hurricane center said the powerful category 4 storm's center was about 60 miles
south of Varadero, the Cuban resort.
Michelle picked up speed overnight and by Sunday afternoon was moving
northward at 13 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending out 45 miles.
Forecasters said a 20-foot storm surge -- a huge, fast-moving swell of ocean
water that could flood a large area -- was possible on Cuba's southern coast.
The center of Michelle was likely to pass over Cuba by midnight Sunday and
head into the eastern Florida Straits, said Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the
U.S. hurricane center.
The storm had probably reached its peak strength, forecasters said.
Michelle's winds were stronger than Hurricane Lili, a category 3 storm that
wiped out crops and left thousands homeless in Cuba in 1996.
Hurricanes Andrew, which hit southern Florida in 1992, and Hugo, which
struck the southeastern United States in 1989, were both category 4 storms.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
