Nature’s fury
High waves caused by Hurricane Irma crashing against the seafront boulevard, El Malecon, in Havana, Cuba. The eye of the Category 4 storm has already slammed into the lower Florida Keys.
CAIBARIEN: Hurricane Irma ripped roofs off houses and flooded hundreds of miles of coastline as it raked Cuba’s northern coast after devastating islands the length of the Caribbean in a trail of destruction that has left 22 people dead so far.
As Irma left Cuba on Saturday and directed its 195kph winds towards Florida, authorities on the island were assessing the damage and warning of staggering damage to keys off the northern coast studded with resorts and cities, as well as farmland in central Cuba.
There were no immediate reports of deaths in Cuba – a country that prides itself on its disaster preparedness – but authorities were trying to restore power, clear roads and warning that people should stay off the streets of Havana because flooding could continue today.
Residents of “the capital should know that the flooding is going to last more than 36 hours, in other words, it is going to persist”, Civil Defence Col Luis Angel Macareno said on Saturday, adding that the waters had reached about 600m into Havana.
As Irma rolled in, Cuban soldiers went through coastal towns to force residents to evacuate, taking people to shelters at government buildings and schools – and even caves.
Video images from northern and eastern Cuba showed uprooted utility poles and signs, downed trees and extensive damage to roofs.
Witnesses said a provincial museum near the eye of the storm was in ruins. And authorities in the city of Santa Clara said 39 buildings collapsed.
More than 5,000 tourists were evacuated from the keys off Cuba’s north-central coast, where the government has built dozens of resorts in recent years.
Civil Defence official Gregorio Torres said authorities were trying to tally the extent of the damage in eastern Cuba, home to hundreds of rural communities and farmland.
In Caibarien, a small coastal city about 320km east of Havana, winds downed power lines and a threeblock area was under water. Many residents had stayed put, hoping to ride out the storm.
Before slamming into Cuba, Irma had caused havoc in the Caribbean, where it ravaged such lush resort islands as St Martin, St Barts, St Thomas, Barbuda and Anguilla.
Many of Irma’s victims fled their battered islands on ferries and fishing boats for fear Hurricane Jose would destroy or drench anything Irma left untouched, but Jose veered away before doing more damage.
On the Dutch side of St Martin, an island divided between French and Dutch control, an estimated 70% of the homes were destroyed by Irma, according to the Dutch government.
Prime Minister William Marlin said about 1,600 tourists had been evacuated and efforts were being made to move 1,200 more.
Marlin said many countries and people had offered help to St Maarten, but authorities were waiting for the weather conditions to see how it could be coordinated.