Yeay! I have internet access again! I've been without it for a couple of weeks now, and what a time to miss it, between the Dem Convention and Hurricane Gustav, when I really needed updated information from the NOAA! Anyway, I'm in Havana and I just wanted to update you here on our experience with Gustav which might be of some assistance to people who are going through it or about to go through it.
I was relieved to see this morning that the eye of the storm is passing 88 miles west of New Orleans. This is about the same distance that we in Havana had from the eye of the storm, which passed over the relatively populated areas of Pinar del Rio and Los Palacios. More on those in a minute.
I've only been through one other hurricane in my life, Fran in '96, and this was comparable. I don't think the sustained winds were even hurricane strength, but we had some whopper wind gusts. Havana had very little damage. Our power went back on last night at about midnight--thank goodness, because the air was hot and stagnant and the mosquitoes were hungry. The air conditioning saved my night.
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