Rescue Teams Pull Nearly 250 to Safety in Flooded Havana Neighborhoods [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Rescue Teams Pull Nearly 250 to Safety in Flooded Havana Neighborhoods

Monday, October 24, 2005 - Page updated at 09:27 AM

Cuban rescue teams pull nearly 250 to safety in flooded Havana neighborhoods

By Anita Snow
The Associated Press

HAVANA – Rescuers in inflatable rafts and amphibious vehicles pulled nearly 250 people from flooded homes Monday after huge waves churned by Hurricane Wilma flooded the capital's coastal highway and adjacent neighborhoods of old, crumbling buildings.

The ocean spread up to four blocks inland, inundating streets and buildings with water up to three feet deep.

There were no immediate reports of injuries anywhere on the island. Nearly 700,000 people were evacuated across Cuba's west in recent days as Wilma approached, first hitting Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and then plowing across southern Florida.
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The government shut off electricity throughout the capital and across the island's west — a standard safety precaution — as high winds howled across the island.

Cuba prides itself on saving lives during hurricanes, and its civil defense plans have been held up by the United Nations as a model. Mandatory, widespread evacuations are common and face little resistance.
(snip/...)http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002580698_webcuba24.html


http://www.13wham.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=6C2C1D2B-CDA9-4ABB-915D-D791C7D9C0C4

Wilma lashes Cozumel, Cancun
The Associated Press

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In western Cuba, civil defense official Adolfo Nilo Moreno said 725 evacuees at a school outside the provincial capital of Pinar del Rio were likely to remain there until the middle of next week.

Farm animals in the agricultural region were gathered in collective corrals ahead of the storm, and some of the evacuees even brought their pets to the shelter.

"No way I was going to leave him," 14-year-old Adriana Rivera said of her own dog.
(snip/...)

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=50109