MIAMI _ Winds as high as 140 mph began whipping Cuba's easternmost communities late Tuesday afternoon, bringing with them the possibility of storm surges on both the island's southern and northern coasts.
The National Hurricane Center reported that by 5 p.m. EDT the northern eyewall of Hurricane Matthew was already pounding the island. The hurricane made landfall near Punta Caleta on the sparsely populated eastern tip of Cuba.
Landfall was further east in Guantanamo province than originally forecast, putting more distance between densely populated areas and the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay than initially anticipated.
The Category 4 hurricane was expected to exit the island near Baracoa on the northern coast before heading out to open sea.
Jose Rubiera, Cuba's chief hurricane forecaster, said in updates on Cuban TV that tropical-storm-force winds could affect the island as far west as Camaguey and Ciego de Avila and storm surges also are expected to batter Cuba's north coast from the eastern provinces to the central part of the island.
"We're very worried. It's very sad and painful that a hurricane is arriving and could destroy the little that we have," Yoandy Beltran Gamboa said in a phone call from Guantanamo before Matthew hit.
Some of the shelters were filled to capacity. "In the Elena Fuentes Lopez school, there are people sleeping on the floor and they are not permitting any more evacuees to enter," said Beltran, who lives in downtown Guantanamo.
Cuba has made extensive storm preparations in eastern provinces from Camaguey to Guantanamo, evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from cays and other low-lying or insecure areas, transferring 1,300 tourists staying in Camaguey, Granma and Holguin to safer areas in the center of the island, preparing trains carrying earth movers and equipment to restore power, and removing trees, branches and stoplights that could become projectiles.
In advance of the storm, U.S. military cargo planes evacuated 700 family members from the Guantanamo base to a "safe haven" in Pensacola, Fla.
As part of the preparations, the local newspaper Venceremos reported that authorities had decided to take down antennas, which was expected to affect radio, telephone and cell phone transmissions.
More than 350 women in the late stages of their pregnancies were transferred to three hospitals in Santiago where they can receive medical attention during Matthew.
Santiago endured a hurricane as recently as Oct. 25, 2012, when Sandy swept ashore, killing 11 people and damaging 137,000 homes and that devastating experience was very much on the minds of Cuban authorities as they made preparations for Matthew.
But residents of the province of Guantanamo, where nearly half the homes are reported to be in poor condition, have not experienced a hurricane in many years. In 1963, Hurricane Flora made landfall about 30 miles east of Guantanamo Bay with winds of 125 mph.
"We are safer here than at home. The important thing is to stay alive," Ines Maria Fajardo told Sierra Maestra, the official daily of Santiago, as she played cards in a Santiago shelter set up in the Vocational Art School.
High winds weren't the only danger. The National Hurricane Center predicted that storm surges could reach 7 to 11 feet along Cuba's southern coast, east of Cabo Cruz and intense rainfall of eight to 12 inches and mudslides also were a possibility. A storm surge of four to six also was expected along Cuba's northern coast, and Cubadebate reported that more than 127,000 people in the province of Holguin along the northern coast had been evacuated to shelters or to stay with family and friends.
Cuban leader Raul Castro and Cabinet members are in eastern Cuba to personally oversee hurricane fortifications and recovery efforts and he told residents of Santiago that he hoped for a quick passage by Matthew and that recovery plans would begin immediately after Matthew had cleared Cuban territory.
