Sunday
31 August
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
Nicaragua Probes US
Republican Poke
Hurricane Gustav Ravages
Cuba
Americas
Parliament for the Cuban Five
Venezuela, DR To Build
Gas Line
Aerolineas Argentinas'
Future on Debate
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Hurricane Gustav Ravages
Cuba
LA HAVANA - Tropical
storm Gustav
strengthened into a
Category 4 hurricane as
it churned into western
Cuba Saturday and is now
on its way to the
oil-rich Gulf of Mexico
and the U.S. coast.
Gustav, with 240 kmph
winds, poured heavy
rains, knocked down
power lines and uprooted
plants as it swept
across Cuba's western
Pinar del Rio province,
the country's main
tobacco-growing region.
Authorities have
evacuated some 250,000
people in four western
provinces. No lives have
been lost due to the
well-organized
evacuation, Cuban
officials said.
In the country's Havana
province, where the
capital is located, the
storm emptied streets
and severed power lines
in many cities. Some
77,000 people have been
evacuated across the
province.
Forecasters predict the
hurricane is likely to
strengthen into a
ferocious Category 5 as
it tears into the Gulf
of Mexico.
In anticipation of the
deadly hurricane,
three-quarters of the
offshore oil fields have
been shut down in the
Gulf, where there are
some 4,000 platforms
producing a quarter of
the United States' crude
oil and 15 percent of
its natural gas.
Gustav is also likely to
strike New Orleans, the
U.S. city devastated by
Hurricane Katrina three
years ago, as early as
Monday.
New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin has ordered the
city to be evacuated.
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