[NYTr] Cuban Mountain Range Soaked by Noel's Heavy Rains

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


Cuban Mountain Range Soaked by Noel's Heavy Rains

Bayamo, Nov 1 (acn) Even when tropical storm Noel is heading away from 
Cuba, heavy rains continue to fall in the eastern part of the island, 
particularly in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in the province of 
Granma.

Local government authorities reported that in only 35 minutes, 55 
millimeters of rain fell in the town of Dos Bocas de Cardero, in Media 
Luna, while 46 millimeters were registered in Pilon in half an hour.

Several municipalities, such as Minas del Frio, San Lorenzo, Mompie are 
cut off because of the floods of the rivers. Gusts of over 80 KM/H have 
been reported in the area as well.

The number of people evacuated increased Wednesday night from 706 to 
881, who were taken to government shelters or to relatives and friends' 
homes. The highest number of evacuees was reported in Manzanillo, with 
487, most of them sheltered in public facilities.

Meanwhile, all ten water reservoirs in the region are draining, while 
efforts are underway to create conditions to increase the capacity of 
the reservoirs so they can hold larger amounts of water coming from 
rivers and streams from Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Las Tunas.

The largest reservoir of the eastern region of Cuba, Cauto el Paso, 
with a capacity of 330 million cubic meters is already holding 300 
million.

Granma's Civil Defense Council is taking the necessary actions to avoid 
human losses and bring down as much as possible the material damage.

According to local weather forecasts, the rains will continue hitting 
the highest mountainous range of the country, Sierra Maestra in the 
next few hours.