Herald staff report

HAVANA -- The pounding of hammers echoed through the windy streets of Havana as hotel workers covered windows with plywood and people rushed to prepare for Hurricane Michelle.

 But most apartments, homes and businesses -- even those facing the ocean -- remained uncovered -- except for duct tape in the shape of a cross over the glass.

 Five- to 10-foot waves crashed over the Malecón, Havana's winding oceanfront highway, as cars made their way home. The usual clusters of pedestrians and bicycles on the streets were almost as scarce as supplies.

 Except at the front of bakeries, where people lined up in the hundreds to buy loaves of bread. ``He cut in line,'' screamed one man outside the Liquorama Bakery on Calle 23, where residents had queued for hours. A sea of people waved bills at another man by the door.

 ``I can't do this when you are all pushing me,'' shouted the man in charge of distributing the loaves, which went for 10 pesos each.

 Ten feet away, a 23-year-old customs worker watched the drama with her arms crossed as she waited in line. ``If the gas goes out, we can't cook,'' she said. ``So bread and crackers are the next best thing.''

 As day turned to night, electricity was rationed in patches throughout the city. At one gas station in the Vedado district, about 20 drivers lined up their vehicles to fill their tanks.

 At 6:30 p.m., the oceanfront Hotel Riviera evacuated its guests, sending them off to other hotels in three Transitur tourism buses.

 ``They told us we need to leave because a hurricane is coming and it will be ugly,'' said a Mexican man as he waited outside.

 On San Juan de Dios street in Old Havana -- the city's crumbling, low-lying eastern section, which is undergoing an architectural renovation -- Edilia Castellanos watched a grainy television set airing the talk show La Mesa Redonda.

 ``Cubans are accustomed to all the bad,'' Castellanos, 60, said. ``You think a hurricane is going to scare us?''

 ``We're trying to be as disciplined as we can,'' said another Old Havana resident, Luis Pérez. ``When the information comes to tell us we need to move, we'll move.''

 Pérez and his neighbors have already been designated a shelter in the case of their evacuation: the tall, concrete Ministerio de la Industria Ligera.

 ``We aren't scared because the government is taking the right measures,'' said a 52-year-old woman who lives on Orellis in Old Havana. ``There are ways to put up a front against nature.''

                                    © 2001