1.2 million evacuate Havana as Ike nears

  • 10/09/2008

  • International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)

HAVANA: Hurricane Ike roared toward the densely populated Cuban capital and its fragile, historic buildings on Tuesday after forcing 1.2 million people to evacuate, killing at least four and ravaging homes elsewhere on the island nation. Meanwhile, U.S. residents from Florida to Texas braced for Ike's next wallop. The hurricane, which raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti that have killed at least 331 people, made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean's largest island. It was a Category 1 storm early Tuesday, but forecasters expected it to strengthen again before hitting Louisiana, Texas or northern Mexico this weekend. On the narrow streets of Camaguey, Cuba, falling utility poles crushed cars and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble. Colonial columns were toppled, and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the city, which is a Unesco world heritage site. "I have never seen anything like it in my life. So much force is terrifying," said Olga Alvarez, 70, huddling in her living room with her husband and teenage grandson. "We barely slept last night. It was just 'boom, boom, boom.'" State television reported that Ike killed four people in Cuba