Pinar Del Rio Devastated

[El Presidente]

http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/hu...-power-in-cuba/

By Jeff Franks | Reuters

Cuba said on Monday more than 90,000 houses were damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Gustav tore through the western province of Pinar del Rio on Saturday with 150 mile per hour (240 km per hour) winds.

Officials and state media said 80 percent of the province, which has about 750,000 residents, was without power after Gustav knocked down 80 high-tension towers with cables that distribute electricity throughout the region.

State-run news agency AIN, in a story quoting Cuban vice president Carlos Lage, said 53 percent of the homes in the hardest hit areas were affected, most of them suffering roof damage.

No deaths have been reported from the storm, which passed into the Gulf of Mexico after crossing Cuba and on Monday struck Louisiana, near New Orleans, on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Power lines were knocked down throughout the stricken area in Cuba, many of them draping across roads and highways.

The tall, metal towers supporting the main electricity cables could be seen lying crumpled across the palm-studded landscape.

On state television, Lage said during a trip to the worst-hit Pinar del Rio towns that power supply was a “very grave and urgent problem.”

“It doesn’t have to do with repairing a few towers, it has to do with constructing a new electricity network, because much of the network is on the ground,” he said.

But Lage said electricity should be restored more quickly than in past storms because of diesel generators installed around the country in recent years.

He also said electricity workers from around Cuba had been brought in to speed repair of the system.

An official for the state electric company said on state television that power had been completely knocked out on the Isle of Youth and would take some time to restore.

AIN quoted the local electricity director on the island, which is about 40 miles off Cuba’s southwestern coast and took a direct hit from Gustav, as saying 120 miles of power lines had been downed.

Television reports showed widespread devastation on the island, which has about 86,000 residents. A report on national radio said more than 40 percent of the housing had been damaged and the main hospital was closed.

State television said tobacco warehouses in Pinar del Rio, the main growing region for Cuba’s famed tobacco, had been damaged.

AIN also reported heavy damages to hotels and thousands of buildings in Pinar del Rio’s Vinales valley, a popular international tourist destination known for its dramatic rocky outcrops and traditional architecture.

(Editing by Michael Christie and Mohammad Zargham)

[Guest rob]

I'm amazed there were no deaths... especially considering the fury of the storm.

I hope they get there systems back in place and return to normal life as soon as possible.

[brentp]

» I'm amazed there were no deaths... especially considering the fury of the

» storm.

»

» I hope they get there systems back in place and return to normal life as

» soon as possible.

Rob,

I am afraid there are more than a few deaths. Unfortunately, Cuba does not report death tolls from storms nor many other situations. I pray the best for all of our friends there. Feel lucky that we are only having to dodge tornadoes here in Bama from Gustav.

[rjfunk]

Rob, I read another report that said all the harvested tobacco crop was moved to higher ground before the storm hit. So I am assuming it was saved.

[Claudius]

» Rob, I read another report that said all the harvested tobacco crop was

» moved to higher ground before the storm hit. So I am assuming it was

» saved.

Late August there is no tobacco planted, right? They start in October, dont they?

Looking forward to confirmation that no tobacco was damaged.

[Punch Joe]

Second transmission updated.

Ufff, now i´m connected after the Hurricane.

Man we were battered hard. Thanks for all your feelings of hope and care. Lisa, Tampa, Prez, Ken, Al, Kjell, Grasso, Cohiba...etc

Still alive and kicking! Really concerned about the Louisiana people at this time.

As of today inn Havana the damages were not so serious but it was scary though. MAny trees came down in the city and all the services were shut down except for radio and telephones. No gas, No power, No water.

As we are used to this kind of events, My beloved Ingrid and Me, started the Saturday preparing all the things to be duly covered and safe. When everything was done, we opened the Tennessee Whisky bottle PaPa Van Winkle´s and started to down it as the wind went blowing harder. We have 2 Siglo VIs ready, all the batteries for the radio were charged,, candlelights, a pack of cards (yes, we were playing poker and Brisca Española) we took some pictures a nd a samll video of the weather I wish I could upload here.

Here´s a quick report:

We were impacted at Cat 4 in South Pinar 6:oo pm Saturday after devastating Isle of Youth, South of Cuba.

Sustained Winds: 190-230 km/h

Gustings: 290-330 km/h In Paso Real de San Diego, the record was set in 340 km/h as per read in the wind digital read out before breaking itself. Looking at the Tv reports from Pinar is depressing. Houses seemed to be demolished with a big ball of steel. When asked to the old ones, they said that they don´t recall having experienced anything like that in 60 years. Man, that was serious.

Heavy rains reported in a few locations, winds caused more damages.

Buildings damaged: Still under investigation

Total:

86 000 houses down. Modsstly in Pinar and Isle of Youth

40 000 slighty damaged across the west part of hte Island form MAtanzas to Pinar.

Less than 20 people hurt or injured. Officially 19

No deaths. regarding this I must say that the official reports from the Hurricane are filed up by the Healthcare System and the Civil Defense Corps backed by the National Institute of Meteorology since it´s a matter of the three. MAny were evacuated the day before Gustav hit Cuba avoiding this. I´m sure there are no deaths since in porevious events in 2003 and 2004 thay reported 2 and 1 respectively.

5 fishermen were recovered from out shore South of Cuba after 4 days in the sea. Alive, skinny and cross-eyed, but alive. They got trapped when returning to Mother Port in Batabanó. They survived 150 km winds and impressive waves. Regarding Tobacco: I don´t know what to believe, some say that leaf storage suffered no damages while others claims (La jornada newspaper from Mexico) that nearly 2 000 tons of tobacco could be still at jeopardy. As of today nothing has been released officially in either Habanos s.a. or Tabacuba. You will be the first to know. Not a word yet

Fidel Castro announced today that the recovery is going to be slow and costly. The TV continue broadcasting stories of the hurricane and alerting people that Sept and Oct are expected to bring two or more veents of this magnitude.:-| The houses were poorly constructed, mostly wood and fiber.

Good news is that in San Luis Pinar del Río City and San Juan y Martínez there were no considerable damages )winds never reached 5o km. as they were located at the left wing of the hurricane. Spoke toi Robaina a miute ago and he is taking care of the seedbeds at the moment.

Best

Jose

[Miami101]

Hi

Rob

I talked to my family there and it sounded bad...No power, water......no food.

I was able to contact them via cell number...go figure!

[gostgost]

Jose,

Glad to hear that you and the wife were able to ride out the storm with no injuries to you guys.

I pray that you truly are OK and that the rest of you do well. So many houses destroyed I kow that you are used to it but really how can you be they only thing I can think of is being prepared.

Take care,

dave.

[greenpimp]

Glad to hear you are OK Jose. That sounded like a bad one.