Daily Times (Primos, PA)

Waves from Irma flood Havana coast even as storm moves away

- By Andrea Rodriguez and Desmond Boylan

HAVANA » Powerful waves and storm surge from Hurricane Irma topped Havana’s iconic Malecon seawall and left thousands of homes, businesses and hotels swamped Sunday, even as the storm moved away from the island.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities in Cuba, where the government prides itself on disaster preparedne­ss and said it had carried out evacuation­s totaling more than 1 million people.

Authoritie­s warned that the floodwater­s could linger for more than a day, and there was as-yet uncalculat­ed damage to sugarcane and banana fields in central Cuba and to northern cays studded with all-inclusive resorts, potentiall­y dealing a major blow to the country’s key tourism industry.

The powerful storm ripped roofs off homes, collapsed buildings and caused floods along hundreds of miles of coastline after cutting a trail of destructio­n across the Caribbean. Irma has killed at least 24 people in the region, leaving officials scrambling to bring aid to shattered communitie­s.

In Havana, home to some 2 million residents, central neighborho­ods along the coast between the Almendares River and Havana harbor suffered the brunt of the flooding, with seawater penetratin­g as much as a half-kilometer (one-third of a mile) inland in places.

Waves as high as 20 feet (6 meters) continued to pound Havana, and Civil Defense Col. Luis Angel Macareno warned that the flooding would persist into Monday.

Emergency workers and residents boated and waded through streets littered with all manner of debris: toppled trees, downed electrical lines, roofs torn off by the winds and cement water tanks that fell from atop homes to the ground.

Elena Villar and her mother spent the night huddling in the lobby of a building on higher ground as her home of 30 years filled with more than 6 feet (2 meters) of water.

“I have lost everything,” she said, on the edge of tears.

Floodwater­s entered the high-end Melia Cohiba and Riviera hotels, where the storm damaged the buildings, landscapin­g and roofing.

They also damaged the seaside U.S. Embassy, tossing around shipping containers that sit on the compound, smashing parts of its black perimeter fence and breaking windows and doors. The embassy’s flag was torn and fluttering from its staff early Sunday.

Hector Pulpito, 33, recounted a harrowing night at his job as night custodian of a parking lot that flooded five blocks from the sea in the Vedado neighborho­od.

“I felt great fear. This was the worst of the storms I have been through, and the sea rose much higher,” Pulpito said. “The trees were shaking. Metal roofs went flying.”

State television reported severe damage to hotels on the northern cays off Ciego de Avila and Camaguey provinces.

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.

Communist Party newspaper Granma reported that the Jardines del Rey airport serving the northern cays was “destroyed” and posted photos to Twitter showing the shattered terminal hall littered with debris.

In Caibarien, a small coastal city about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Havana where many residents stayed put to ride out the storm, winds downed power lines and neighborho­ods were under water.

Similar scenes played out across the Caribbean, where the storm devastated islands before setting its sights on Florida.

In St. Martin, formerly lush green hills were stripped to a brown stubble and the smell of rotting debris spread across the French Caribbean territory of 40,000 people. Irma passed through earlier in the week as a Category 5 storm.

A truck drove through damaged neighborho­ods distributi­ng water, and authoritie­s expected to set up distributi­on points on Monday. Plans to do so were initially delayed by Hurricane Jose, which roared toward the region as a Category 4 storm on Saturday but turned north without doing much further harm.

“Everything has been destroyed where I work. There’s nothing there,” 27-year-old Manon Brunet-Vita said as she walked through the streets of Grand Case. “When I got to this neighborho­od, I cried.”

More than 1,000 tons of water and 85 tons of food have been shipped to the French Caribbean territorie­s of St. Martin and St. Barts, and additional deliveries are expected, according to government officials in the nearby island of Guadeloupe.

Authoritie­s announced the reopening of St. Martin’s Marigot port and said a boat was expected to dock by Monday with a 5-ton crane capable of unloading large containers of aid.

More police and soldiers were patrolling the streets following reports of looting, and authoritie­s set up 1,500 emergency shelters.

On the Dutch side of St. Martin, an island divided between French and Dutch control, an estimated 70 percent of all homes were destroyed by Irma.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Sunday that the death toll in his country’s territory had risen to four after the bodies of two unidentifi­ed people washed up on the island.

“Unfortunat­ely, more victims to Rutte said.

With power out to much of the French Caribbean region, France’s main electricit­y provider, EDF, said it has flown 140 tons of generators, pumps and other equipment to help St. Martin and St. Barts. there are mourn,”

 ?? JOEL ROUSE — MOD VIA AP ?? In this undated photo provided on Sunday by the British Ministry of Defence, the RAF A400M arrives on the British Virgin Islands to provide humanitari­an assistance to British overseas territorie­s. The death toll from Hurricane Irma has risen to 22 as...
JOEL ROUSE — MOD VIA AP In this undated photo provided on Sunday by the British Ministry of Defence, the RAF A400M arrives on the British Virgin Islands to provide humanitari­an assistance to British overseas territorie­s. The death toll from Hurricane Irma has risen to 22 as...

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