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Tue Oct 1, 9:24 Am Et . By Anita Snow,
Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Hurricane Lili dumped heavy rains on western
Cuba on Tuesday and 127,000 people fled their homes in fear of the storm that
ripped roofs from buildings in the Cayman Islands and killed seven in Jamaica
and St. Vincent.
 Lili
picked up speed and its violent winds gained strength as it approached Cuba,
whipping up battering waves and storm surges up to 10 feet higher than normal,
the National Hurricane Center in Miami
said.
On the island, government radio stations announced that school classes in
western Pinar del Rio province and the capital of Havana were canceled. Cubana
Airlines halted all flights and train service between Havana and the provincial
capital of Pinar del Rio was suspended.
With maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, the storm's eye was over Cuba's Isle
of Youth at 8 a.m., and about 60 miles southeast of Cabo Frances in western
Cuba.
Lili, the fourth hurricane of the Atlantic season, was moving northwest at
about 13 mph and was expected to make a direct hit on western Cuba around noon,
the Cuban Institute of Meteorology said.
The hurricane could strike the Gulf Coast areas of Texas, Louisiana and
Mississippi by Thursday or Friday, said Martin Nelson, lead forecaster at
Miami's hurricane center.
The storm continued to punish Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and eastern Cuba
with torrential rains that "could cause life-threatening flash flooding and
mudslides," the Hurricane Center said.
Lili grew into a hurricane on Monday as its winds topped 74 mph and its eye
tore across Cayman Brac, uprooting trees and utility poles, knocking out power
and tearing roofs from at least two apartment complexes, legislator Lyndon
Martin said in the British territory. About 300 people sought refuge in
emergency shelters.
"We just did a lot of praying," said newlywed Melanie Nunn of
Greensboro, N.C., who had been honeymooning with her husband, Robbie, before the
storm forced them to move to a shelter in Cayman Brac.
Lili reached the Caribbean last week as a tropical storm, leaving four dead
in St. Vincent, damaging 400 homes in Barbados and destroying half St. Lucia's
banana crop.
Three people, including a 3-year-old, died Sunday in Jamaica when
floodwaters swept them away. As many as 40 homes were destroyed, 120 were
flooded, and 750 Jamaicans moved to emergency shelters, officials said.
Authorities in western Cuba asked people in low-lying areas or near the
coast to move to safer areas and reported 127,000 people evacuated, including
3,715 people forced from their homes by Hurricane Isidore 10 days ago. On
Sunday, another 100,000 people were evacuated from eastern Cuba as Lili neared.
Mexicans also were abandoning homes in the northeastern Yucatan peninsula,
where Lili's heavy rains were expected later Tuesday. Isidore damaged 95,000
homes there. The Yucatan coast from Cozumel to Progreso was under tropical storm
watch.
The Cayman Islands was under hurricane warning and Cuba posted a hurricane
warning for Havana and the western provinces of Matanzas, Pinar del Rio and the
Isle of Youth. The rest of Cuba was under a storm warning.
Jamaica discontinued its storm warning Monday but remained on flash flood
alert.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kyle sent winds gusting to tropical storm force
over the mid-Atlantic British island of Bermuda, where a storm watch was in
effect. Kyle was downgraded to a depression later Monday as its winds dropped to
35 mph about 350 miles south-southwest of Bermuda. | 
