PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba (14 Sep 2004) -- Powerful Hurricane Ivan churned northward into the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday on a track for the U.S. coast after ripping off roofs and downing trees and power lines as it brushed past western Cuba. There were no reported casualties on the island from the giant storm, the most powerful to hit Cuba in living memory, which the U.S. National Hurricane Center said could be one of the most intense ever seen in the Gulf. After a Caribbean rampage that killed at least 68 people and left behind vast damage, Ivan was expected to make landfall in the United States as early as Wednesday night, prompting forecasters to post a hurricane watch from the Florida Panhandle to west of New Orleans in Louisiana. The powerful core of Ivan, a rare Category 5 hurricane with winds near 160 mph, passed over Guanahacabibes peninsula, a sparsely populated national park in western Cuba. Vicious winds and pounding seas further from Ivan's center pummeled the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio. The sea surged 600 yards inland at some points and the beach and diving center of Maria la Gorda was hit by an 11-foot surge, officials said. At 2 a.m. EDT, the eye of Ivan was about 55 miles northwest of the western tip of Cuba at latitude 22.4 north and longitude 85.6 west and moving northwest near 9 mph, the U.S. hurricane center said. MASS EVACUATION Cuban authorities had evacuated 1.3 million of the country's 11 million people before Ivan took a more westerly path than first predicted. They said Ivan spared the country costly damages and reported no deaths or even injuries. "What a relief. It's a miracle that it ended up going toward Yucatan," said Nadelin Gonzalez, a housewife in the capital Havana, whose two million people had been in the storm's projected path. President Fidel Castro, touring Pinar del Rio province, said Ivan had been "courteous" by veering west. Amphibious armored cars were deployed to the area to evacuate people, if needed, from floods caused by torrential rains. High winds ripped off corrugated iron roofing and 15-foot waves flooded streets in the evacuated fishing village La Coloma. | | "Despite the heavy rainfall and sustained winds, we haven't had to lament a single injury," said the head of the ruling Communist Party in Pinar del Rio, Maria del Carmen Concepcion. Ivan's death toll rose to 68 as Haiti reported three storm-related deaths and the Pan American Health Organization said 37 people had died in Grenada. Nineteen were killed in Jamaica, four in Venezuela, four in the Dominican Republic and one in Tobago. On Sunday Ivan swiped the Cayman Islands, a British colony and offshore financial center of 45,000 people, where it uprooted trees, damaged buildings and sent seawater surging well inland. No casualties were reported. HIGH SEAS IN MEXICO In the Mexican beach resort Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula, famed for its turquoise waters and night life, thousands of residents and visitors were evacuated as heavy rains and choppy seas pounded the coast. Flights to Cancun had been canceled amid fears of major damage, and tourists were warned to stay in their hotels. The small Caribbean island of Cozumel, one of the world's leading diving centers, was cut off from the mainland. But Cancun airport remained open, as did Mexico's main oil exporting ports. World oil prices climbed on Monday as energy companies pulled thousands of workers from oil rigs off the U.S. Gulf coast, home to a quarter of the U.S. oil and gas output. Energy firms said rigs should withstand Ivan's fierce winds and 55-foot swells. Ivan's track was expected to take it to the U.S. Gulf coast between the Mississippi Delta and Florida Panhandle by Wednesday. If it does not curve west, the storm could inflict a third hurricane strike on Florida within a month. Authorities in the Florida Keys allowed evacuated residents to return to the island chain. But officials warned that at least 1.7 million people in fragile mobile homes or low-lying areas were at risk along Florida's Gulf Coast. On Saturday, Ivan's top sustained winds were reported at 165 mph and the hurricane center declared it the sixth-strongest Atlantic storm on record. SOURCE - Reuters |
