Hurricane Michelle Roars Through Cuba
HAVANA (AP) - Hurricane Michelle rolled toward the Bahamas and away from Florida on Monday after roaring across Cuba, which evacuated 750,000 people and shut down power for much of the island.
Forecasters said the storm had probably peaked by early Monday, but a hurricane warning remained in effect for northwestern and central Bahamas.
Conditions in Cuba were unclear because communications were nearly completely knocked out, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from Michelle, which hit land Sunday at more than 130 mph.
Sustained wind speeds dropped to 80 mph by midmorning and was expected to keep declining on its northeast path. The hurricane warning for all of the Florida Keys has been replaced by a tropical storm warning, although concerns of coastal flooding remained.
``The good news is this: It looks like Michelle is just giving us a fringe effect, I would not expect any significant damage,'' said Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
In the Bahamas capital of Nassau, most businesses had put up plywood and metal shutters. A few stores stayed open Sunday, and shoppers scrambled for water, batteries and canned food.
Flights to Andros Island, the first Bahamian island that comes along Michelle's projected path, were canceled by Sunday afternoon. Some families began moving to government shelters. ``Everyone is quite relaxed,'' said Diane Brown, assistant manager of a local yacht club on Andros Island.
On Sunday, Cuban leader Fidel Castro called an impromptu news conference in Havana, saying 750,000 people had been evacuated to shelters, friends' homes or other safe havens on this island of 11 million.
He also noted that Michelle entered Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, on the southern Zapata Peninsula, comparing the hurricane to the invasion by a CIA-funded army of exiles that landed there in a botched attempt to overthrow him 40 years ago.
``Our people are well organized, they have experience. The greatest success will be to keep the number of victims low,'' he said.
Evacuations are mandatory in Cuba's civil defense system, designed in the Cold War around military attack and political control.
The government shut off power across the western half of the island shortly after the storm made landfall, some 70 miles southeast of Havana.
Michelle also created an 18-foot storm surge on the outlying island of Cayo Largo on Cuba's south coast Sunday, but there was no immediate word on what damage it caused.
The storm battered central-western Cuba during the day with sustained winds of 125 mph, the hurricane center said. Over the last four days, 10 to 20 inches of rain had fallen before ending late Sunday.
The storm has already killed a total of 12 people in Central America and Jamaica.
In Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency Saturday, and a mandatory evacuation order was issued for all of the Florida Keys on Sunday, although some residents were allowed to return Monday.
The chain of some 40 islands, stretching 128 miles, has more than 80,000 permanent residents, plus visitors. The keys are connected by highway bridges, but only two spans connect the first island, Key Largo, to the mainland.
Originally published November 05, 2001.
