The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WHERE THE STORM HAS BEEN
Powerful waves leave thousands homeless on island.
■ Cuba: Powerful waves topped Havana’s iconic Malecon seawall and left homes, businesses and hotels swamped.
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 evacuated 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 the island’s sugarcane and banana crops and 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 third of a mile inland in places.
Waves as high as 20 feet continued to pound Havana, with the spray topping the lighthouse at the Morro fortress overlooking the
entrance to the bay. Civil Defense Col. Luis Angel Macareno warned that the flooding would persist.
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.
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,” said Villar, who was on the edge of tears.
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 as it fluttered
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 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 cays had been 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 rode out the storm, winds downed power lines and neighborhoods were under water.