HAVANA, Nov 4: Hurricane Michelle, the most powerful storm to barrel toward Cuba in the past half-century, was set to make landfall on the island early on Sunday, prompting authorities to evacuate 150,000 people from the crowded capital of Havana.

Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center in Miami labelled the category four storm “extremely dangerous.”

Hurricane warnings extended across central and western Cuba, as some compared Michelle ominously to a November 9, 1932, storm that flattened the town of Santa Cruz del Sur and killed some 3,000 people.

“We are setting up for what appears to be a real disaster in Cuba,” said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center.

In addition to the Havana evacuation, Cuban officials cleared out luxury tourist resorts and ordered some 35,000 students to leave camps in the Zapata Peninsula near the Bay of Pigs.

“It’s been 50 years since we’ve had a high-powered hurricane in Cuba, and the population should prepare itself for what’s coming,” Jose Rubiera, head of forecasting for Cuba’s meteorological institute, said on national television.

Michelle chugged toward Cuba on a path that would make a direct hit on Havana, where building collapses after storms are major seasonal concerns among its more than two million residents.

Forecasters predicted landfall would occur on the Isle of Youth, off the Cuban mainland, around 1800 GMT Sunday. A hurricane warning was in effect for western Cuba from Pinar del Rio eastward to Ciego de Avila.

At 1200 GMT, the eye of the hurricane was located 230 kilometres south of Havana. Michelle ambled toward the northeast early Sunday at around 19 kilometres per hour, with maximum sustained winds measuring 215 kilometres per hour.

Rainfall totalling 25-50 centimetres was expected in areas along the hurricane’s path, the NHC said, and storm surges of some 6 meters were possible.

The storm already has dumped heavy rains that flooded rivers and triggered mudslides across much of Central America, leaving at least 10 people dead and thousands homeless.

Worried Havana residents lined up at the few stores open Saturday to stock up on food in intermittent rain and light winds. Residents spent much of the day taping their windows and putting up storm shutters.

The national information agency said food, water and medicine had been sent to communities south of the capital that could be cut off in the event of a major storm.

Cuban officials cancelled all national and international flights until Monday.

A hurricane watch was also in effect for parts of the Bahamas, the island of Grand Cayman, and certain areas of Mexico, including tourist hotspots like Cancun and Cozumel.—AFP