HAVANA — Hurricane Ike moved into the warm waters of the Gulf and took aim at the U.S. and Mexican coasts Tuesday after bringing down aging buildings in Havana and tearing through western Cuba’s tobacco country.
Texas emergency officials stood ready Tuesday to order 1 million people evacuated from the impoverished Rio Grande Valley and tried to convince tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that they have less to fear from the Border Patrol than from the storm, which could reach Category 3 strength before the end of the week.
Forecasters said Ike could hit Saturday morning just about anywhere along the Texas coast, with the most likely spot close to the Corpus Christi area. Areas from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi and south to Brownsville — about 250 miles of coastline — were told to prepare for possible mandatory evacuation.
Authorities lined up nearly 1,000 buses in case they are needed to move out the many poor and elderly people who have no cars.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area sheltered about 3,000 Hurricane Gustav evacuees last week and is prepared for up to about 20,000 people this time, said Steve Griggs, a county official. The downtown convention center would again serve as the main shelter.
Federal authorities gave assurances they would not check people’s immigration status at evacuation loading zones or inland checkpoints. But there were worries that many illegal immigrants would refuse to board buses and go to shelters for fear of getting arrested and deported.
In May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Border Patrol would do nothing to impede an evacuation in the event of a hurricane.
But when Hurricane Dolly struck the Rio Grande Valley in late July, no mandatory evacuation was ordered, and as a result the Border Patrol kept its checkpoints open. Agents caught a vanload of illegal immigrants.
In Cuba, about 1.2 million people — more than a tenth of the country’s population — sought refuge from Ike, which killed four people and shredded hundreds of homes as it barreled across the island.
Winds howled and rains lashed the empty streets of Havana as towering waves broke over the seaside Malecon promenade, devoid of the bustling crowds of Havana residents who normally fish and chat by day and drink and socialize at night.
Police braved the storm to stop all but emergency traffic in streets littered with branches, rocks and the rubble from crumbling balconies.
The heavy rains soaked the buildings of Havana’s picturesque older areas, causing some of the more dilapidated to collapse. Four aging houses on a single block were reduced to rubble when their walls came tumbling down with a loud boom, and work crews labored with heavy machinery in the strong winds to clear the rubble from the street.
Collapsing buildings were reported throughout the city, and more were probable in coming days as the structures dry out and weaken. All of the buildings appeared to have been evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
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