Hurricane Dennis Kills 10 in Cuba on Its Way to U.S.

HAVANA — Hurricane Dennis slammed into Cuba with 135-mph winds Friday, killing at least 10 people, and held its course toward the United States, spurring hundreds of thousands to flee the Florida Keys and Gulf Coast.

Strong winds and surf buffeted the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, on the island’s eastern end, washing a guard tower into the sea. Power lines and tree branches were knocked down and there was minor flooding, but no casualties were reported.

“It’s arrived, with all its diabolical force,” President Fidel Castro said on state television. He said most of the 10 victims died in collapsed houses in Granma province. An 18-day-old baby was among the dead.

As the storm passed east of Havana, waves up to 10 feet crashed over the city’s seawall. Fierce gusts tore huge chunks of concrete off dilapidated buildings and shattered glass globes from antique street lamps in the city’s old section. Downed trees and utility poles littered roads.

Waves swept away coastal homes. Civil defense officials said more than 1.5 million people fled to take shelter with family or friends or in government refuges.

It was the strongest Atlantic hurricane to form this early in the season since records began in 1851. The season begins June 1 and runs through November.

The storm’s winds built to 150 mph before weakening to 110 mph Friday night, forecasters said. It was expected to regain strength when it moved back over open water.

Hours before it hit Cuba, Dennis killed more than a dozen people in Haiti as it collapsed bridges, triggered landslides, inundated homes and downed power lines and trees.

In southern Haiti, many people fled flooded homes. Grand Goave Mayor Marie Hingreed Nelchoix said 17 people had died in and around her city, including 15 thrown into a swollen river when a bridge collapsed.

Young men were charging $2 to carry travelers and their possessions across the Grand Goave River. Fristino Fleurinon, 18, said he carried at least 10 people across the river on his shoulders.

Four people died around the southeastern city of Jacmel, said a civil protection official. Earlier, officials reported a young man was killed when a tree fell on a house near Les Cayes.

In Jamaica, a rescue helicopter was to airlift food and emergency supplies to hundreds of stranded islanders in at least seven eastern towns.

Dennis was expected to remain a major hurricane as it emerged over the Florida Straits and into the Gulf of Mexico.

An evacuation order was in effect in the Keys, where officials feared Dennis could hit over the weekend on its way to the Gulf.

Forecasters predict that the storm will hit the United States anywhere from Florida to Louisiana by Sunday or Monday.

A hurricane warning was posted for the lower Florida Keys. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the southern part of the mainland, and a hurricane watch was issued for portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast.