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CNN Sunday Morning

Hurricane Michelle Expected to Hit Cuba This Evening

Aired November 04, 2001 - 09:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring in now our Lucia Newman. She's the Havana bureau chief. Of course, Cuba in direct line with getting an impact from Hurricane Michelle.

Hello Lucia, we see that you're already feeling the effects quite plainly.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Hello Marty, I'm here, moving in the wind.

SAVIDGE: How are you and how is Cuba doing this morning?

NEWMAN: Well, it's extremely windy and wet right now, as you can probably see. And in fact, Hurricane Michelle, which had been inching its way toward Cuba, has now picked up speed. It's actually doubled its speed. And it is expected to hit mainland southwestern Cuba by late this afternoon.

At least 300,000 people have been evacuated, Marty, all over the country; half of them just from Havana Province alone. And many of those people have been evacuated from the area that you see directly behind me.

That is the Malecon. That is old Havana and central Havana. It is one of the best-known areas of Cuba, and the most populated. It also has some very, very old homes. Many of them are just barely standing now, as things are. With all this rain and wind, it is very likely that many of them will collapse. And people have been evacuated from that part of the country, as well as in the provinces, Pinar del Rio and Matanzas.

Farmers have been rushing to pick the tobacco crop, or what they can, to salvage that, and also the banana harvest before the storm actually hits Cuba, Marty.

The airports are now closed and most international flights -- indeed, all of them, have been canceled, as well as national flights. There are thousands of international tourists from all over the world who are now trapped here in their hotels and will have to wait for this storm to pass -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Lucia, when do you think the worst hours will be for the storm there? NEWMAN: In the city of Havana, it's expected to be after nightfall, in fact, which makes it somewhat more eerie. People won't be able to see so much of what's going on, but they'll be able to certainly hear it. From 6:00 p.m., roughly, onwards, the storm is really expected to be felt.

Now the eye of the storm, we understand, is going to be somewhat east of Havana. But it is a huge, huge storm, so it is going to bring tremendous amounts of water and gale-force winds to areas far beyond that, both to the west and to the east -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Lucia Newman, take care of yourself, we'll be in touch with you. Thank you.

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