7DaysinParadise

Cuba => Cuba => Topic started by: Bulldog on November 21, 2007, 07:19:11 AM

Title: Floods drive over 2,000 people from homes in Cuba
Post by: Bulldog on November 21, 2007, 07:19:11 AM
HAVANA: More than 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes on Tuesday as floods washed away buildings, crops and electricity pylons in eastern Cuba, two weeks after the same region was hit by the country's worst floods in 40 years, local media reported.

Driving rains swelled rivers in Guantanamo and Holguin provinces overnight, with the Toa river cresting one meter (three-feet) above flood stage, sending families scrambling to higher ground.

"I live and grew up on the banks of the Toa River and never in my long life - I'm 84 - have I seen something so awful," an unidentified local woman said on television.

A local mayor reported 2,000 people evacuated and extensive damage wrought by the floods, but said that luckily "there was no loss of life."

Eastern Cuba was drenched in relentless rains from October 11 to November 5 that caused the worst floods in 40 years, killing one person and leaving 500 million dollars' worth of damage.

Authorities said the flooding was the worst since 1963, when Hurricane Flora killed 1,126 people and destroyed more than 11,000 homes.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/Floods_drive_over_2000_people_from_homes_in_Cuba_/articleshow/2557971.cms