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Hard-Hit Havana Still Short of Water

Reuters
Tuesday, August 17, 2004; Page A03

HAVANA, Aug. 16 -- City workers distributed water in tank trucks Monday and urged about 1.4 million residents of the Cuban capital who had no running water to remain calm, four days after Hurricane Charley roared through the area.

A government official in a car fitted with loudspeakers urged residents to conserve water and said it could take several days to restore services to the 70 percent of the city with no water.


Havana residents fill plastic containers from a hose in one of the few areas of the city of 2 million still supplied with water, four days after Hurricane Charley barreled across Cuba packing 105-mph winds. (Claudia Daut -- Reuters)

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The Aguas de La Habana water company said the hurricane had disrupted power supplies needed to pump water into the city. Engineers worked to rebuild eight high-voltage towers knocked down by Charley outside a thermoelectric power plant at the port of Mariel that feeds Havana and the western province of Pinar del Rio.

Charley hit Cuba with 105-mph winds, killing four people and damaging 40,000 homes when it barreled through Havana province and the western side of Havana Friday.


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