Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cuba treads water in Irma’s wake
Hurricane’s waves breach sea wall; floods expected to last
HAVANA — Powerful waves and storm surge from Hurricane Irma topped Havana’s iconic Malecon sea wall 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 sugar-cane 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, cen- tral neighborhoods along the coast between the Almendares River and Havana harbor suffered the brunt of the flooding, with seawater penetrating as much as onethird of a mile inland in places.Waves as high as 20 feet continued to pound Havana, with the spray topping the lighthouse at the historic Morro fortress on the entrance to the bay, and Civil Defense Col. Luis Angel Macareno warned that the flooding would persist into today.
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 of water.
“I have lost everything,” she said.
Floodwaters entered the high-end Melia Cohiba and Riviera hotels, where the storm damaged the buildings, landscaping and roofing.
The waters and winds also damaged the seaside U.S. Embassy, tossing around shipping containers that sit on the compound, smashing parts of its black perimeter fence, ripping exterior panels from the building and breaking windows and doors. The embassy’s flag was in tatters fluttering from its staff 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 east of Havana where many residents stayed put to ride out the storm, winds downed power lines and neighborhoods were under water.
In the well-known resort enclave of Varadero, on Cuba’s north coast about two hours’ drive east of Havana, hotels experienced only minor damage to structures such as windows and roofs, tourism official Ivis Fernandez told reporters.
Fernandez added that 17,000 tourists rode out the storm there, including more than 3,000 who were part of an evacuation of keys farther to the east that took a direct blow from Irma.
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 today. Plans to do so were initially delayed by Hurricane Jose, which roared toward the region as a Category 4 storm on Saturday.
St. Martin and St. Barthelemy had been on lockdown overnight for the second hurricane, but Jose passed farther north of the islands than expected.
On Sunday morning, the French meteorological service reduced the alert from its top level of violet to yellow, saying Jose was now more than 185 miles north-northwest of St. Martin.
The center of the hurricane had passed 75 miles out from the island, the service said earlier, and as a result “the effects on the territory are decidedly less serious.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would be traveling to St. Martin on Tuesday on an Airbus carrying aid supplies to show that Paris is committed to both helping and rebuilding its far-away territories pummeled by Hurricane Irma.
The French government on Sunday defended its hurricane preparations, rejecting criticism by political opponents and by islanders who felt abandoned as their homes and towns were devastated.
“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.”
French government spokesman Christophe Castaner, speaking Sunday with Europe1-CNews-Les Echos, said he “perfectly [understood] the anger” of island residents. But he insisted that officials had known of the “extremely high risk” posed by the hurricane days in advance and had mobilized military and health care personnel in nearby Guadeloupe.
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 today with a 5-ton crane capable of unloading large containers of aid.
More police and soldiers were patrolling the streets after 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, there are more victims to mourn,” Rutte said.
The evacuation of U.S. citizens from the Dutch side of St. Martin resumed Sunday, according to State Department spokesman Heather Nauert, after being suspended in anticipation of Hurricane Jose.
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.
In St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin islands, a convoy of FEMA trucks carrying water rumbled past damaged homes with sirens blaring.
William Mills, a 35-yearold security worker, said he waited in a mile-long line for gas. He said many were seeking to leave St. Thomas, but that’s not an option for him.
“I’m going to stay here and tough it out,” Mills said.
Waves as high as 20 feet continued to pound Havana, with the spray topping the lighthouse at the historic Morro fortress on the entrance to the bay, and Civil Defense Col. Luis Angel Macareno warned that the flooding would persist into today.