LA COLOMA, Cuba · Coastal fishing villages along Cuba's westernmost tobacco-growing province became ghost towns Sunday night as more than 1.3 million Cubans across the island evacuated their homes in anticipation of a pounding by "Ivan the Terrible."

The massive hurricane, which has fluctuated between a Category 4 and a top-scale Category 5, veered toward Cuba's western tip, sending a huge sigh of relief across much of the island which had braced to face the worst of its fury.

Cuban meteorologists said the hurricane's projected path could send 160-mph winds into the Yucatan Channel today, but they cautioned that the slow-moving giant could shift course, bringing it closer to more heavily populated regions of Pinar del Rio and Havana province.

"We would all want it to go to the Yucatan Channel, but while it is south of Cuba it is still a potential danger. ... We cannot let down our guard," José Rubiera, head of Cuba's Forecasting Center, said on government television Sunday evening.

Residents throughout the lush western province got ready for heavy wind damage, flooding and dangerous storm surges that could extend from Havana west to the diving mecca of Maria La Gorda.

On Sunday, in the fishing village of La Coloma, 115 miles west of Havana, residents gathered along the main street with rolled up mattresses, bulging backpacks, radios and pets as they waited to be evacuated by a steady stream of government buses. The town's entire population of 7,000 was evacuated.

"We've never had such a massive evacuation. No one is staying here," said Damilys Leal, 32, as she waited for a bus with her family.

"This is a catastrophe, to lose what little we have," said Gervasio Rojas, 41, a lobster fisherman. "Everything will disappear."

Run-down apartment buildings were boarded up, fishing boats were tied down and, perhaps most importantly, the region's prized tobacco harvest was stored in warehouses.

Tobacco is Cuba's third largest export after sugar and nickel, bringing in annual revenues of about $240 million.

"For the past four days we've been taking steps to keep medications and food safe. This storm could cause great damage to our economy, which primarily depends on tobacco," said Carlos Sánchez, a municipal government delegate. "We've moved seedlings from the greenhouses to protected areas. We sped up the harvest of vegetables and put cured tobacco in warehouses."

In 2002, Hurricanes Lili and Isidore cut nearly identical swaths through this region only 11 days apart, causing more than $47 million in damage to the tobacco industry's infrastructure. Almost 70 percent of the large, barn-like sheds where leaves are hung to dry collapsed like piles of matchsticks.

But Lili and Isidore were relatively weak storms compared to Ivan. Residents of La Coloma shuddered to think of the havoc it could wreak.

"We are in a crisis, we can't deny that," said Luis Pereda, 77, a retired fisherman. "If it comes this way it is predicted nothing in La Coloma will remain."

Pereda, along with his little black and white dog Linda, was headed for one of Pinar del Rio's 24 city shelters, where white mattress rolls were placed in classrooms.

Unlike some other Caribbean islands, Cuba generally sees few casualties from hurricanes because of highly organized evacuations.

"It is as if we were preparing for a war, but a war of nature," said Blanca Alvarez, a municipal government delegate who was overseeing evacuations at a school in the city of Pinar del Rio. "There is a system of organization and precision."

President Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans to be disciplined and "follow the instructions of the state to the letter."

On vacation from Germany, Petra Steinacker was one of 7,000 tourists who was evacuated from potentially dangerous areas on the coast. Ivan would be her first hurricane, but she was not worried.

"It's an adventure holiday," said Steinacker, an avid diver. "What can we do? Just sit and wait like the Cuban people."

Vanessa Bauzá can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com

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