Havana rains, floods kill at least three

Havana rains, floods kill at least three
Reuters
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; 9:53 PM

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

Nearly 8 inches of rain fell in just two hours on Tuesday night,
flooding tunnels and paralyzing traffic in the city of 2.5 million
residents.

President Fidel Castro said the storm took authorities by surprise.
"There have been some deaths due to this sudden phenomenon that gave us
no time to react," he said on television.

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 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 defense system although Hurricane Dennis killed 16 people when it
pounded Cuba last July.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402580.html