Vol. 72/No. 36      September 15, 2008

The storm reached category 4 by the time it arrived in Cuba with wind gusts reaching a record 212 miles per hour.

The response of the Cuban government to Hurricane Gustav is typical of the preventative measures usually taken in preparation for this kind of storm. In 1998 four people died in Cuba as a result of Hurricane Georges, which killed 600 people elsewhere. In August 2004 Hurricane Charley killed four people in Cuba and 27 in Florida. Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 storm that killed 68 people in other countries in September 2004, passed through Cuba without one casualty after the evacuation of some 1.9 million people.

In contrast, Hurricane Katrina, also a category 5 storm, claimed the lives of nearly 1,700 people in the Gulf Coast region, according to the online version of the Canadian Press.

Damage caused by Gustav to buildings and infrastructure in Cuba, particularly in the western region where the storm was most intense, was substantial. Many homes, trees, roads, telephone poles, and electrical lines, were damaged or destroyed by the storm.

José Ramón Machado Ventura, first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba, recently pointed to improvements over previous years in the restoration of electricity to Havana. He expected power to be back up there by September 2 at the latest.
 
 
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