HurricaneIvan passesCuba

Ivan, page 1 the western tip of Cuba remained in danger early Tuesday. Ivan was a huge storm and its effects were sprawling and perilous.

"We're worded and frightened," one resident of the Isle of Youth told The Herald by telephone.

No new casualty reports were lmmediately available Monday as Cuba again absorbed a hurricane's torrential rain, shrieking wind and rushing, 20-foot storm surge.

The surge, a wall of water that precedes the eye wall, reportedly covered the fishing towns of La Coloma and Cortes in the province of Pinar del Rio. The populations of both towns had been evacuated and much of the province was flooded.

"They're reporting a lot of water," said Osvaldo Pia, an amateur radio operator for Brothers to the Rescue in Miami, who monitored ham radio transmissions from Cuba.

An amateur radio operator in Cuba reported that phone and power lines were down in Pinar del Rio province and that the storm surge invaded three city blocks along the southern coast.

A ham radio report from Isabel Rubio, a small town in westernmost Pinar del Rio, reported some structural damage to build- ings in nearby Sandir.o.

"Now telephone poles are going down," the report said. "No electricity in the west Pinar del Rio area is available."

Other amateur radio reported "hundreds of trees" down through out much of western Pinar del Rio.

Authorities there said 130,000 of the province's l.3 million people had been evacuated from their homes into schools, government buildings, hotels and neighbors" houses.

A woman who was riding out the storm with her 2-year-old daughter and two aunts told The Herald in a telephone interview she had board up her windows with plywood handed out by the government.

Rain had not stopped since early Monday morning, intensifying as the <lay wore on, she said.

"We"re a little bored, but that is not important," she said. "We've seen what's happened elsewhere in the Caribbean where Ivan struck and we're intent on saving lives at all costs."

Earlier in the day, powerful winds and heavy rainfall knocked out electricity in some parts of the Isle of Youth, flooded streets in many areas, and washed out part of a highway on the eastern edge of the island.

Havana reported heavy rain and moderate wind, and Cuban provinces to the east barely felt the storm.

"It's not coming here," said one confident man sitting with bis family in their apartment doorway in central Havana. "We got lucky."

In Havana and Matanzas, where people had been expecting the worst for days, a cautious sense of relief prevailed Monday night.

"Imagine bow relieved we feel," a Matanzas woman told The Herald by telephone. "Our lives are unlucky enough. We were expecting the worst since the beginning and I have been glued to the radio, listening to all the bulletins."

There was one remaining fear: more blackouts than usual.

"We have to take advantage of the daylight hours," said another Matanzas woman, cooking a dinner of eggs and rice earlier than usual, just in case. "It's usually pretty bad anyway, but today we expected it to be worse."

While Castro seemed pleased with Ivan's path, other officials took to the airwaves to remind residents of the storm"s dangers.

"Don't take any unnecessary risks," Civil Defense Lt. Col. Domingo Carretero said on state television. "Don't go outside. Don't go on your balconies. Don't cross rivers that are swelling. Don't touch severed electricity cables."

Jose Rubiera, Cuba's chief meteorologist, said Ivan wasn't through with Cuba. Western provinces, plus other areas, still faced great danger, he said.

"No one should think that it is gone, that we are safe_ that is not true," Rubiera said in a broadcast.