Photo gallery: Sandy strikes Cuba as "strong" category two hurricane
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos-
Citizens of Bayamo, 740km east of Havana, buy food on Oct 24, 2012, as the residents of eastern Cuba prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane conditions were expected in eastern Cuba in the evening, with the storm set to pass over the Bahamas on Thursday and Friday, according to the NHC, which warned that conditions were "deteriorating" in Jamaica. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
People remove a boat from the water ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy in Manzanillo, Cuba, on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012. Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall near the country's most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida. -- PHOTO: AP
-
Citizens of Bayamo, 740km east of Havana, move to safer places on Oct 24, 2012, as the residents of eastern Cuba prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane conditions were expected in eastern Cuba in the evening, with the storm set to pass over the Bahamas on Thursday and Friday, according to the NHC, which warned that conditions were "deteriorating" in Jamaica. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
Locals ride a motorbike in a flooded street of Santo Domingo before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Oct 24, 2012. The category one hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale was forecast to dump up to 12 inches of rain across Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and eastern Cuba. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
Big waves caused by hurricane Sandy along the south coast of Santo Domingo on Oct 24, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
Waves, brought by Hurricane Sandy, crash on a house in the Caribbean Terrace neighborhood in eastern Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012. Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall near the country's most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida. -- PHOTO: AP
Citizens of Bayamo, 740km east of Havana, buy food on Oct 24, 2012, as the residents of eastern Cuba prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane conditions were expected in eastern Cuba in the evening, with the storm set to pass over the Bahamas on Thursday and Friday, according to the NHC, which warned that conditions were "deteriorating" in Jamaica. -- PHOTO: AFP
People remove a boat from the water ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy in Manzanillo, Cuba, on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012. Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall near the country's most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida. -- PHOTO: AP
Citizens of Bayamo, 740km east of Havana, move to safer places on Oct 24, 2012, as the residents of eastern Cuba prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane conditions were expected in eastern Cuba in the evening, with the storm set to pass over the Bahamas on Thursday and Friday, according to the NHC, which warned that conditions were "deteriorating" in Jamaica. -- PHOTO: AFP
Locals ride a motorbike in a flooded street of Santo Domingo before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Oct 24, 2012. The category one hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale was forecast to dump up to 12 inches of rain across Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and eastern Cuba. -- PHOTO: AFP
Big waves caused by hurricane Sandy along the south coast of Santo Domingo on Oct 24, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP
Waves, brought by Hurricane Sandy, crash on a house in the Caribbean Terrace neighborhood in eastern Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012. Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica with heavy rain as it headed for landfall near the country's most populous city on a track that would carry it across the Caribbean island to Cuba, and a possible threat to Florida. -- PHOTO: AP
HAVANA (AFP)- Hurricane Sandy slammed into Cuba early Thursday as a "strong" category two storm after battering Jamaica, where it downed power lines and forced hundreds of people to seek emergency shelter.
The US-based National Hurricane Center said the storm was packing winds of up to 175 kilometers per hour as it made landfall and predicted that it would further strengthen in the coming hours.
The hurricane plowed across Jamaica on Wednesday, reportedly killing one person and forcing hundreds to seek shelter as it downed power lines and dropped heavy rains on the shantytowns around the capital Kingston.
Local paper The Gleaner said the storm had claimed its first victim - a 74-year-old man who was killed when a boulder rolled onto a house.
