Cuba to Say Bye Bye to Paula

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 15 — What was hurricane Paula is now a tropical depression and moving east along the coast of Matanzas province.  The storm caused power and water supply outages in its passing through Havana as well as felled some electric poles and tree branches.

The Cuban press reports that life in the capital began to return to normal “although some zones will take a while on Friday to have their services restored depending on the magnitude of the damages, still not quantified by local officials.¨

With strong wind gusts continuing civil defense authorities have maintained a state of vigilance in Havana, where 90-99 kph (55-60 mph) winds were registered on Thursday.

At 6:00 a.m. EST, the Cuban Meteorological Institute situated TD Paula over Colon, in central-eastern Matanzas, moving east at 22 kph (14 mph).  The storm continues to weaken note the weather experts.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami is only projecting the life of Paul through Friday evening as it fades over central Cuba.