Ike. four deaths and destruction in Cuba after killing 66 in HaitiHurricane Ike left four dead and a trail of destruction in Cuba and will arrive on Tuesday, weakened but always with danger, west of the island en route to the Gulf of Mexico, having caused 66 deaths in Haiti.
In category one (out of 5) with winds of 130 kph, Ike moves along the south coast to cross Cuba by the west on Tuesday between the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio, punished for nine days by Hurricane Gustav.
In fact unusual for Cuba, with a system for disaster prevention internationally recognized, four people were killed: a woman when her house collapsed, two men electrocuted and another died in the collapse of a wall in villages of central and east, according to a official note.
With more than two million evacuees, throughout the country work was suspended, banned the movement and population had been instructed to remain on guard, while rescue teams and law enforcement officers patrolling the streets to help affected by landslides and floods .
"The situation is extremely complex," said Jorge Cuevas, president of the Council for the Defence of the province of Las Tunas. "There is no electricity, the damage is a major economic facilities and social, health, education, hotels," said in turn that of Holguin, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
At 23H00 local (03H00 GMT), Ike's eye was 40 km southeast of Bay of Pigs and 225 km southeast of Havana, Cuba on Tuesday and will cross will toward the Gulf of Mexico at night, according to the National Center Hurricane United States (NHC).
Ike swept the east and centre of the island, leaving destroyed homes, uprooted trees, flooded crops, poles toppled, villages without light and incommunicado.
"I still remains very dangerous by the rains and winds" that will download on Tuesday, now in the west, on Havana and the provinces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Rio, said meteorologist Jose Rubiera.
In Havana, 2.2 million inhabitants, 169,000 people were evacuated, 20,000 of Old Havana (World Heritage), where it is feared the collapse of buildings and old houses and in poor condition.
Camaguey, whose historic center was recently declared a World Heritage Site, suffered a "severe flooding". "The situation is difficult, the streets are with water five meters above normal," described the president's Council of Defense provincial, Julio Cesar Garcia.
"In 59 years I've seen other cyclones, but not with this destruction. It's impressive," narró an inhabitant from Camaguey, by telephone.
Waves of up to 10 meters rose up to more than five-storey buildings on the shores of Baracoa, eastern end. The penetration of the sea took entire houses. "I have never seen anything like," said one witness.
In Matanzas, where is the resort of Varadero, the main tourist centre of Cuba evacuated more than 13,000 tourists, the streets were deserted and shops closed, found a journalist from AFP.
Sandbags argued the roofs of houses and buildings, sheets tied with ropes and planks of wood covered the crystals. "It is worth more caution than having to regret," said Alexander Montesinos, a restaurant manager in Varadero.
The president Raúl Castro met with the General Staff of the Council of Civil Defense-leaders of the Communist Party-and gave instructions. He and his brother, the leader Fidel Castro, still to-the-minute progress of the hurricane, the television said.
"The whole nation is now at war with what is called alarm fighter," wrote Fidel, removed from power by illness.
The hurricane warning was discontinued for the keys of southern Florida and the tourist city of Key West, the southernmost U.S., but the threat is on the oilfields of the Gulf of Mexico, so the price of crude oil rose.
The Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell began evacuating offshore platforms in the Gulf, the U.S. ExxonMobil assesses the situation, and French Total return to land his staff on Wednesday.
Ike plaguing the area a week after the devastating blow of Gustav, which left hundreds dead in the Caribbean and the United States, mostly in Haiti, where 500 others were killed in the recent passage of Hanna and Fay.
