T-Storm Alert Pulled for Cuba

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 8 – With Hurricane Ida moving deeper into the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) pulled the tropical storm warning that had been on Cuba’s westernmost Pinar del Rio province, in its 10:00 p.m. EST report.

Nonetheless, the island’s civil defense authorities are still on guard due to the Cuban Meteorological Institute (INSMET) warning that heavy rains could fall tonight and Monday in Pinar, the two Havana provinces and the Isle of Youth.

At 6:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, Ida was located 150 kilometers (90 miles) west-northwest of Cape San Antonio, Cuba’s westernmost tip and just over 550 miles south-southwest of the Mississippi Delta on the US Gulf Coast, where a hurricane warning is now in effect.

A tropical storm warning is also in effect for New Orleans, hard hit by hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005.  Mayor Ray Nagin was recently in Cuba to learn from the island’s vast disaster prevention experience.

INSMET predicts that the hurricane Ida will increase its movement, currently at 10 mph, while heading north.