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Fri Sep 20, 4:03 am Et. By Anita Snow, Associated Press
Writer.
Yahoo!
News.
HAVANA (AP) - Hurricane Isidore buffeted Cuba's small Isle of Youth with
strong winds and drenching rains early Friday as it moved slowly toward the
western tip of the main island and the Gulf of Mexico.
As Isidore approached with 85 mph winds, the communist government told tens
of thousands of people to move to safer ground.
Isidore, the second Atlantic hurricane of the season, was expected to
strengthen and drench Cuba's western half through the weekend. As much as 30
inches of rain might fall there, the National
Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Forecasters said Isidore is later expected to become a major hurricane in
the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. A tropical storm watch remained in effect for
the lower Florida Keys.
"Anything in the Gulf of Mexico is a potential target in the next six
or seven days," said James Franklin, a hurricane specialist at the center.
At 2 a.m., Hurricane Isidore's center was about 30 miles south of the Isle
of Youth and 140 miles southwest of Havana.
Forecasters said Isidore was traveling northwest at about 8 mph and was
expected to cross the main island's westernmost point later Friday.
Hurricane-strength winds extended up to 25 miles out from its center and a
hurricane warning was in effect across western Cuba.
Isidore's maximum wind speeds reached 85 mph Thursday afternoon, with higher
gusts, forecasters said. Tropical storms become hurricanes when sustained wind
speeds reach 74 mph.
Cuba's state television said Thursday afternoon that more than 38,000
students were sent home as officials closed boarding schools in the western
province of Pinar del Rio.
"This is all programmed, none of this spontaneous," said Lt. Col.
Astul Castellanos of Cuba's civil defense program. Widespread evacuations are
routine here in face of hurricanes. Most people seek temporary shelter with
family or friends.
Castellanos told Cuban television Thursday night that about 100,000 people
and tens of thousands of farm animals in the island's west were moved to safer
ground.
As a category 1 storm, Isidore was far weaker than Hurricane Michelle, an
extremely dangerous category 4 storm that battered central Cuba in November,
causing an estimated $1.8 billion in damage.
Elsewhere in the western region, workers rushed to protect the wooden curing
houses where precious tobacco leaves are being dried to make cigars, television
reports said.
Heavy rains drenched Havana Thursday afternoon, and many businesses and
offices closed as workers rushed home to secure doors and windows. Skies cleared
later in the evening.
Earlier in the day, Isidore uprooted trees and flooded low-lying areas in
the nearby Cayman Islands.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Cayman Islands as
emergency officials braced for additional rain and flooding.
Isidore first passed western Jamaica on Wednesday, but by Thursday the
government had lifted a tropical storm watch there.
Gustav, which dwindled in the north Atlantic earlier this month, was the
first hurricane of the season. The 2002 Atlantic hurricane season began June 1
and ends Nov. 30.
On the Net:
National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ | 
