Heavy rains left by Hurricane Ike continued to plague to Cuba on Wednesday, causing floods that disrupted highways and left isolated villages, authorities said.
The western province of Pinar del Rio, on Tuesday onslaught by Ike and 10 before by Hurricane Gustav, remained under "hurricane warning" by the heavy rains.
"We remain heavy rain that could cause flooding and landslides especially in mountainous areas," said the Meteorological Institute of Cuba.
The overall division Ramon Pardo, head of the Civil Defence, was even clearer: "The floods are the new danger."
The Institute of Meteorology said the accumulated rainfall were "significant". In Pinar del Rio, for example, were reported rainfall between 100 and 163 millimetres.
The national highway which crosses Cuba tip to tip, was cut in a stretch of three kilometres by an overflowing river about 166 kilometres east of Havana.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces rescued dozens of people threatened by floods from rivers in various parts of the country, state television said.
The authorities monitored the flooding of rivers in the eastern province of Granma, where a dozen dams are full and are causing floods that left more than 80 houses under water.
Also critical is the situation in areas of the province of Matanzas, east of Havana, where images displayed by state television, some streets seemed rivers of brown water.
The television also showed images Tuesday of Ciego de Avila in central Cuba, where the overflow of a gap caused unprecedented floods in the city centre.
Ike came to Cuba on Sunday to the east, then left the Caribbean Sea to the south on Tuesday and went through Pinar del Rio, where Hurricane Gustav had already damaged over 100,000 houses.
Although the hurricane has already been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the Cuban authorities warned that the rains will continue feeling that creeps over on Wednesday.
More than 2.6 million people were evacuated this week before the arrival of Ike, which represents 20 percent of the population of the island.
