Havana floods leave houses in ruins

Havana floods leave houses in ruins

Havana - Torrential rains caused flash floods that wrecked dwellings and
killed at least three people in Havana, officials said on Wednesday.

Nearly 20cm of rain fell in just two hours on Tuesday night, flooding
tunnels and paralysing traffic in the city of more than two million
residents.

A debris-clogged creek overflowed in the district of Marianao in western
Havana, sweeping away several homes and the occupant of one, 62-year-old
Josefa Fundora.

"Three adults died," an official of the ruling Communist Party told
Reuters as excavating machines cleared mud, debris and garbage.

"I was sleeping when the water rose and almost took me," said Antonio
Avila, 84, an invalid who fought in Fidel Castro's guerrilla force in
the 1950s. "Luckily, a young man helped me leave my house."

A resident who asked not to be named said houses destroyed next to the
creek had been declared uninhabitable 20 years ago but authorities had
failed to provide alternative housing.

The downpour came as Cuba prepares for another busy hurricane season.
Casualties from natural disasters are rare in Cuba due to an effective
civil defence system although Hurricane Dennis killed 16 people when it
pounded Cuba last July.

Reuters
Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-05-24 23:59:43
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