Evening star., 1944-10-18

HAVANA NHJ-1Qe CuDdn
Red Cross reported at least six
persons were killed and 20 in
jured in Havana by tropical
hurricane today. A heavy cas-
ualty list in isSolated areas
was feared.
BY the Associated Press.
MIAMI, Fla, Oct. ia fierce
hurricane inflicted heavy dam
age to Havana, Cuba's capital,
with winds ranging up to 100
miles an hour today, then head
ed out over the Gulf of Mexico
to lash the Florida Keys.
Rising winds were sweeping the
exposed Keys, a string of tiny is
lands jutting into the Florida Straits,
and high tides added to the peril.
The Weather Bureau reported at
noon that winds had reached To-
mile gusts at Key West.
Civilian communications along
the Florida Keys were out, al
though the Navy maintained contact
with its Key West base.
Wind at Miami had increased to
38 to 40 miles per hour, the Weather
Bureau said.
Gale winds were forecast for the
southern tip of the Florida PENN
sula during the afternoon as the
storm, moving northward after pass
ing close to Havana at 9 am, ap-
preached the mainland.
No News From Isle of Pines.
Havana reported heavy damage.
but first word out of the metropolis
told of no casualties. There still
was no news from the Isle of Pines,
! tiny islet south of Cuba, which was
lashed yesterday.
The l,500-ton Cuban Navy trans
port Columbia broke her mooring in
Havana Bay and was driven aground.
The Weather Bureau said that
the wind blew in gusts up TO 140 and
$50 miles an hour in Havana, and
the barometer dropped to low OF
1885 inches.
A 10 am advisory advised that
extreme precautions be taken in
South Florida, declaring:
Winds at lighthouses on Florida
Keys now reported TO 65 miles per
hour and increasing.
Very High Tides Expected.
This severe hurricane probably
will continue slow northward move
ment. with center reaching the
lower Florida Keys late today.
Hurricane winds will be expert
enced, however. within very short
time over the entire Keys area, with
very high tides.
Winds will increase elsewhere.
over South Florida this afternoon
with approach of the storm.
Hurricane warnings are dis
played from Miami to Tampa and
storm warnings elsewhere from
Vero Beach to Cedar Key.
Small craft on the Florida coasts
northward to Jacksonville and Pen
sacola should remain in port"
| 1t was on the keys. stretching
southwestward from the Florida
Peninsula, that about 500 veterans
of the World War were killed by a
hurricane on Labor Day, 1885.
Emergency Warnings Broadcast.
Emergency warnings were broad
least to key residents yesterday and
precautions were under way before
nightfall. Key West, southernmost
Icity of the United States and the
only center of population on the
group of tiny islands, was battened
down and ready.
Army, Navy and Coast Guard in
stallations in the area already had
been made ready. Planes were
evacuated from most of the airfields.
Former President Fulgencio Ba-
tista of Cuba left Miami by Clipper
this morning, bound for Camaguey
in eastern central Cuba on the first
l. leg of his good will tour of South
America.
The flight is expected to be one
of the last from this area before
the storm closes in and grounds all
planes.
City and relief agencies went into
action here early today and private
citizens shopped furiously against
the closing in of the storm.
| Schools in South Florida will not
hold classes until further notice
and the Red Cross Disaster-R Relief
lCommittee advised that public
tschool buildings would be opened
as refuge centers.
First refugees from the hurri-
lcane, several families from Mara
thon, an unprotected village in the
Florida Keys, arrived in Miami last
might and were cared for by the
Red Cross.
!, Some Flying Bombs