Cuba Says Gustav, Ike Did $5 Billion Damage

Source from:  businessweek.com By WILL WEISSERT 09/19/2008

Gustav and Ike together delivered the worst hurricane-related blow in Cuba's storm-battered history, causing $5 billion in damages, the communist government said Monday night. Nearly 450,000 homes were ravaged by the storms, more than 63,000 beyond repair. At least 200,000 Cubans were left homeless and hundreds of thousands more may need temporary housing while authorities work to rebuild, according to an official inventory of "preliminary losses" that took more than half-hour to read on the nightly newscast. Gustav hit western Cuba on Aug. 30 before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico and slamming New Orleans. Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba a week later, churning across the island before heading on to Texas. Ike killed seven Cubans and forced nearly a quarter of the population from their homes. The government's report called Gustav and Ike "without a doubt the most devastating" hurricanes to hit Cuba, noting that "building and rehabilitating will mean financial investments and resources truly worth multimillions and will require years of tense work." Cuba, the Caribbean's largest island, is often battered by severe weather. The government orders mass evacuations and sends soldiers and brigades of volunteers door-to-door to ensure most people comply. This year's storms damaged the housing sector most, but also battered Cuba's power grid and highway system while crippling infrastructure, industry and food production. In the tobacco-rich, westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, which was hit by both storms, more than 3,400 buildings used in tobacco farming and curing were destroyed, the report said. Tobacco crops were not in-season, leaving most fields empty when the hurricanes blew through, although 800 tons of tobacco were affected. The storms ransacked some 300 public health buildings including 26 hospitals and 14 nursing homes. Nearly 1,200 schools and educational centers were damaged, while wind damage and flooding shuttered factories. Seven ports remain closed. More than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of sugar cane were washed out and nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of newly planted cane lost, along with 4,355 tons of food stocks, the report said. Nickel production -- which surpassed tourism as Cuba's main industry earlier this year -- was also slowly resuming Monday, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. Enditem