A Cuban newspaper, the Granma daily, on Monday reported that more than 200,000 Cubans had been evacuated from their residence in the face of the coming tropical storm Elsa.
The largest number of evacuees was reported in the eastern province of Holguin, about 152,000 people.
In the central province of Villa Clara, 54,000 residents had left their homes, while more than 8,000 had to evacuate in the eastern province of Las Tunas, according to the report.
Elsa has intensified slightly as it approaches the central part of Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour).
The Cuban Institute of Meteorology, Insmet, also reported that the tropical storm was driving showers and rains from the western province of Matanzas to the easternmost part of the island.
The Insmet forecast specified that in the next 12 to 24 hours, Elsa would maintain its course with the possibility of gaining intensity before penetrating a point on the south-central coast, between the provinces of Cienfuegos and Matanzas.
Three people had already been killed by the Caribbean storm, two in the Dominican Republic and one on the island of Saint Lucia, the daily reported.
Sputnik/NAN
