Cuba Hit by Hurricane Paloma
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Sunday, November 09, 2008
Hurricane Paloma has made landfall in Cuba and is battering the southern coast with maximum sustained winds close to 200km/h (125mph).
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas in the south and the country has been lashed by heavy rain.
Paloma is the fifth hurricane to hit Cuba this season. It has already caused torrential rains and storm surges in some areas of the Cayman Islands.
Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera said that despite the predicted weakening, "we have to pay full attention to this storm". The storm weakened from Category Four to Two as it passed over Cuban land but it will head out to sea again towards the Bahamas, which have been put on alert. The NHC has warned of "potentially catastrophic storm surge flooding" of 6m to 7.6m along Cuba's south coast, accompanied by "large and dangerous battering waves". Initial reports from Cuba said a key communications tower had been brought down on the south coast, interrupting electricity and phone services.In the Cayman Islands, schools, offices and businesses were shut and some people were moved into storm shelters.
Property was damaged but there were no reports of any injuries. "Our indications are that there has been minimal if any damage on Grand Cayman," said Donovan Ebanks, chairman of the Hazard Management Committee.
"We really got very luck on this one," said one resident. But damage was more severe on the small island of Cayman Brac, to the east of Grand Cayman.
District commissioner Ernie Scott told AFP they had suffered "island-wide damage". "Probably 90 to 95% of homes and buildings have been damaged. Some have been totally devastated," he said.
Paloma is the 16th storm of the Atlantic storm season and the eighth hurricane. It earlier brought heavy rain to parts of Honduras and Nicaragua.
Cuba has yet to recover from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which struck on 30 August and 9 September respectively, causing billions of dollars worth of damage and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes.