Friday 04 / July / 2025
Hurricane Irma brings strong winds and heavy rain to the island of Cuba.
Hurricane Irma uprooted trees and tore off roofs in Cuba on Saturday (September 09) with 125-mile-per-hour (200-km per hour) winds that damaged hotels in the island's best-known beach resorts and forced evacuations as far along the coast as low-lying areas of the capital Havana.
Power was out and cellphone service was spotty in many regions as Irma neared the end of a 200-mile (320-km) trek westwards along the top of the island.
It was forecast to head north toward Florida in the evening.
In Havana, residents watched as seawater breached the famed Malecon and flooded parts of the main avenue and lateral streets.
In the fishing town of Caibarien, residents swept mud from beachside homes after storm surge drove 3 feet (1 meter) of seawater up the shore.
In streets carpeted with fresh green seaweed as the water receded, people said it was the strongest cyclone ever to hit the town.
Irma's turn northward was expected to occur around 150 miles (240 km) east of the capital. Nevertheless, authorities shut off power in large parts of the city and evacuated some 10,000 people from central Havana near the Malecon seawall because of fears of flooding from the storm surge.
Irma covered most of the island, the Caribbean's largest. Its force sent shockwaves and flooding inward.
