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Hurricane Hits Cuba, WeaklyMIAMI (UPI) — Hurricane Katrina hit populous central Cuba with 75-mph winds and heavy rains today, stirring up 10-foot waves and forcing the evacuation of almost 73,000 people and thousands of cattle.The seventh storm of the hurricane season boasted only minimal hurricane winds after weakening slightly Thursday night, but picked up forward speed as it swept ashore just southwest of Camaguey, Cuba.The storm further increased its speed as it pushed east-northeast across central Cuba and was moving at 12 mph.Forecasters said with its increased forward momentum it would not lose as much strength as previously thought as it moved over Cuba’s 10,000 foot mountain peaks.“Therefore, Katrina may become better organized as the center moves over open water this morning,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.The Bahamiam government issued a hurricane watch for the central and northern Bahamas early today as the hurricane moved toward the seas between Cuba and the Bahamas.Katrina’s northeasterly 'course took it farther away from the southeastern United States, but the National Hurricane Center advised small craft along the southeast Florida coast, including the Keys and in the Bahamas, not to venture far from port.“We are not making anyguarantees, of course,” said forecaster Miles Lawrence, “but the course it is on now does not suggest a threat to south Florida or any part of the United States,”The Cuban weather bureau reported 10-foot waves crashing against the southern shore in advance of the storm’s center.Radio Havana broadcast that “72,538 people and 2,200 head of cattle were evacuated from the areas surrounding the cities of Matanzas, Cien-fuegos, Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila.”Rainfall amounts of 10 inches or more were expected over portions of central and eastern Cuba, but Lawrence said Katrina wass moving slightly faster than it did as it crossed the Cayman Islands — which could mean less rain.Forecasters expected Cuba’s mountain peaks, some of them towering to 10,000 feet, to take some of the force out of the storm’s circulation.The Trinidad and Sancti Spiritus mountains of central Cuba loomed slightly west of the projected path of the hurricane’s center and the Sierra Maestre Mountains in southeastern Cuba lay to the east.Much of central Cuba was, however, vulnerable to flooding from the heavy rains of a hurricane.The hurricane season ends at the the end of this month. If no more storms develop, the 1981 will have ended the same way as the previous year — with 11 tropical tempests.
Newspaper Details
Tyrone Daily Herald
Tyrone, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Nov 06, 1981
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
George C.
FL, USA 02 Apr 2024
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