NEW ORLEANS - OFFICIALS in Louisiana on Tuesday blamed Hurricane Gustav for at least seven deaths after it struck the US coast, bringing the toll for the storm to more than 100 dead after it smashed through the Caribbean.

Officials quoted by US media said four people had died in accidents during evacuations and three critically ill hospital patients perished as they were transferred from local medical centers.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal described the reports of the dead patients as 'unconfirmed'.

CNN reported on its website that the critically ill patients had died while waiting for air ambulances to evacuate them from southern Louisiana, citing Richard Zuschlag, chairman and CEO of Acadian Ambulance.

Gustav, which weakened to a tropical storm as it passed west of New Orleans Monday, killed 77 in Haiti, authorities in Port-au-Prince said Monday. The death toll for the storm in the Caribbean came to 96.

US television network MSNBC later reported eight people had died in Louisiana, citing local officials.

Gustav pounded the US Gulf Coast with heavy rain and wind on Monday, but the partially rebuilt levees in New Orleans appeared to be holding almost three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina swamped the city and left some 1,800 dead in the region.

90,000 houses damaged in Cuba
Cuba said on Monday more than 90,000 houses were damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Gustav tore through the western province of Pinar del Rio on Saturday with 240kmh winds.

Officials and state media said 80 per cent of the province, which has about 750,000 residents, was without power after Gustav knocked down 80 high-tension towers with cables that distribute electricity throughout the region.

State-run news agency AIN, in a story quoting Cuban vice president Carlos Lage, said 53 percent of the homes in the hardest hit areas were affected, most of them suffering roof damage.

Power lines were knocked down throughout the stricken area in Cuba, many of them draping across roads and highways.

The tall, metal towers supporting the main electricity cables could be seen lying crumpled across the palm-studded landscape.

Television reports showed widespread devastation on the island, which has about 86,000 residents. A report on national radio said more than 40 per cent of the housing had been damaged and the main hospital was closed.

State television said tobacco warehouses in Pinar del Rio, the main growing region for Cuba's famed tobacco, had been damaged.

AIN also reported heavy damages to hotels and thousands of buildings in Pinar del Rio's Vinales valley, a popular international tourist destination known for its dramatic rocky outcrops and traditional architecture. -- REUTERS/AFP