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 News from Around the Americas | October 2005 
Wilma Churns Massive Waves Into Cuba
 Anita Snow - Associated Press
| | A cyclist passes a wave hitting the retaining wall of the Malecon boulevard in Havana before the threat of Hurricane Wilma. Cuban civil defense officials said more than 400,000 people fled their homes in low-lying areas on the island. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo |
Havana - Massive waves churned by Hurricane Wilma crashed into Cuba's capital city early Monday, flooding a coastal highway and seeping into nearby neighborhoods of old, crumbling buildings.
The outer bands of Wilma also drenched western Cuba and flooded evacuated communities along the island's southern coast after the hurricane clobbered Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The extent of damage in Cuba's north was not immediately known.
The ocean penetrated Havana's coastal neighborhoods up to four blocks inland, with floodwaters reaching up to 3 feet in some places. Basement apartments were submerged.
In Cancun, Mexico, troops and federal police on Sunday worked to control looting at stores and shopping centers ripped open by Hurricane Wilma on Saturday, as hunger and frustration surfaced among Mexicans and stranded tourists.
Police shot into the air to scare looters away from a shopping center, and crowds responded by hurling rocks and chucks of concrete. In one downtown block, looters pried open the metal shutters of stores and emptied the entire block, despite knee-high water. They would run away when soldiers arrived, only to head back when they left.
"As soon as the hurricane arrived, the people went robbing," said Eva Bernabe. "It's sad because Cancun is a relaxed place. We're good people. It's not like this normally."
In downtown Cancun, officials feared looters would turn on tourists, so they quickly evacuated more than 30 foreigners from an area overrun by people raiding stores.
Arturo Campos said his shoe store was emptied by looters "The hurricane was ugly," he said. "The people were worse."
Some residents and tourists stood in line to buy supplies on Sunday, as showers tapered off. Others raided groceries and hotel mini-bars or dragged away furniture and appliances.
Dozens were arrested as military officials and police set up patrols and checkpoints to seize looted goods.
Mexican officials said at least three people were killed during the storm. Last week, Wilma killed 13 people in Jamaica and Haiti.
Late Sunday, Cuban President Fidel Castro appeared on a television program to calm Cubans anticipating increased winds and flooding as Wilma passed overhead en route to southwestern Florida. He also offered Cuban doctors to Mexico to help the neighboring nation recover from the natural disaster.
Castro praised the island's efficiency in hurricane preparation, saying that despite scarce resources, Cuba has become internationally recognized as "a model country that protects the lives of its citizens."
Cuba prides itself on saving lives during hurricanes, and its civil defense plans have been held up by the United Nations as a model for other nations. Mandatory, widespread evacuations are common and face little resistance.
The government in recent days evacuated more than 625,000 people, particularly in the island's west.
Guanimar, a small fishing village of brightly painted wooden houses due south of Havana, was totally under water Sunday, with floodwaters as high as 3 feet in some places. The community frequently floods during hurricanes and its several hundred residents were evacuated as a precaution.
Associated Press reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report from Cancun, Mexico. |
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