Cuba Readies for Powerful Hurricane

HAVANA TIMES, November 8.— Hurricane Paloma, a Category 4 storm, with winds now reaching 140 MPH (225 KPH), is expected to touch down in Central or Eastern Cuba within 12 hours. Two months after hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered much of the island, Cuba is once again in the eye of the storm.

With the hurricane warning, evacuations from low-lying coastal communities, as well as people living in vulnerable structures will take place on a large scale on Saturday. The provinces on alert are Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin and Santiago de Cuba.

At 12:00 noon, the Cuban Meteorology Institute located the center of Hurricane Paloma 120 miles west of Manzanillo, Granma in eastern Cuba.

Paloma is moving at a speed of 9 MPH and the Cuban specialists expect little change in its intensity before hitting land.