Havana – More than 22,000 people have been evacuated from the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio due to heavy rains from Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2006 season, but no injuries have been reported, Cuban radio said Sunday.
Air and sea traffic to the Isle of Youth, some 1,309 kilometers (813 miles) from Havana, has been suspended because of the heavy rains, which topped 100 millimeters (3.9 inches) in some areas.
Authorities on Saturday sent thousands of students home ahead of the storm.
Cuba’s Insmet weather service said the tropical storm was moving away from the western section of the island and toward the north, but heavy rains were expected to continue drenching the region.
Civil Defense officials said Pinar del Rio was under a tropical storm warning, while Havana and the Isle of Youth were under a watch.
The center of Tropical Storm Alberto was located about 645 kilometers (400 miles) west of Key West, Florida, at 1500 GMT, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
The storm was moving toward the northwest at 15 kph (9 mph) and had maximum sustained winds of about 75 kph (45 mph), with tropical force strength winds extending outward up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) to the east of the center.
Some slight strengthening is possible over the next 24 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Cuba completed exercises last month to test the level of preparedness ahead of the start of hurricane season.
Cuban forecasters expect an “active” season, meaning a minimum of 10 named storms, but are not predicting a reprise of the “extraordinary” season of 2005, which saw a record 28 named storms, 15 of them hurricanes.
The island sustained direct hits last year from Hurricanes Dennis, Rita and Wilma, with the last causing the most severe flooding in the history of Havana.
