SURGIDERO DE BATABANO, Cuba (AP) - Hurricane Charley claimed at least three lives as it roared across Cuba early yesterday, devastating dozens of homes as it swept from this fishing town on the island's southern coast to Havana in the north.

The storm crossed the Caribbean's largest island shortly after midnight, with gusts of up to 200 kph (125 mph) reported in some areas. Before reaching Cuba, Charley drenched Jamaica, where one man died.

Lt Col Domingo Carretero, head of Cuba's civil defence, offered no specifics about the deaths except to say they occurred in Havana province. Four other people were injured, Carretero said in his report on state-run television.

At least 65 buildings in Havana neighbourhoods collapsed overnight, and more than 500 buildings throughout the capital were affected, civil defence authorities said.

There was extensive flooding in Surgidero de Batabano, a community of makeshift wooden homes punished by 3-metre (10-foot) waves near where Charley made landfall.

Hundreds of people earlier evacuated from the town of several thousand returned later yesterday to find muddy, waist-high water in their homes.

"I've been crying all morning," said 65-year-old Mercedes Palenzuela. "How can I sleep tonight without a roof, on a soggy mattress?"

Concepcion Arcia, 65, returned to find a collapsed roof, soaked furniture and fish swimming in the structure that had been her home. "Here," she said, "I encountered the Devil."
Outside on the flooded streets, children played with fish and floated on plastic foam rafts.

"In just a matter of minutes, the streets were rushing with water," said 40-year-old Jesus Gato, who stayed to watch the hurricane's landfall from the second floor of his small home. "The waves were jumping from the sea."

"I haven't slept yet," Gato said yesterday afternoon. "I was really scared. I spent the whole night drinking rum and listening to the radio."

Elsewhere throughout western Cuba, Charley ripped apart roofs, downed power lines and yanked up huge palm trees, throwing them across major thoroughfares and along beaches.

Charley was a Category 2 storm with winds of up to 110 mph (177 kph) when it swept across the Caribbean's largest island in less than two hours shortly after midnight. Gusts of up to 200 kph (125 mph) were reported in some areas.

"We had to crawl under the bed," 39-year-old Marlen Perez said of the storm, which ripped chunks of corrugated roof off her modest Havana home. "The wind was howling and I was screaming, 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God!' Pieces of the roof were falling everywhere ... I thought the walls were falling down."

Charley made landfall shortly after midnight, then swept northward, reaching the northern coast just west of Havana, population 2.2 million, about two hours later.

More than 200,000 people were evacuated in western and central Cuba as the storm approached and Havana's international airport and major seaports were closed.
Regular operations were expected to resume later Friday.
Only minimal damage was reported in the Cayman Islands, where Charley hit earlier Thursday when it was a much weaker Category 1 storm, with winds at 145 kph (90 mph).

In Charley's wake, there were reports of flooding and downed trees that made some roads impassable in parts of Little Cayman, population 150, and a brief power outage in Grand Cayman's East End.

. Strikes Florida mainland

PUNTA GORDA, Florida (AP) - Powerful Hurricane Charley roared ashore near Port Charlotte yesterday as it pounded populous west-central Florida with 145 mph (233 kph) wind and a surge of water expected to exceed 10 feet (3 metres).

Airports and theme parks had hurriedly closed as the storm blew toward land, and shelters filled with evacuees.

Governor Jeb Bush said damage could exceed $15 billion.
Charley made landfall at 3:45 pm EDT on the barrier islands between Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, and about 160 miles (257 kilometres) southeast of the Tampa Bay area that includes Tampa and St Petersburg.

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