Hundreds of Thousands Homeless in Wake of Hugo

Hurricane Hugo spun toward the Bahamas today after thrashing Puerto Rico with 125 m.p.h. winds, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless throughout the eastern Caribbean. An official reported at least 25 people dead.

Hugo hit northeastern Puerto Rico and then skirted its populous northern coast Monday. It roared on to the northwest and toward open water, its hurricane-force winds missing the Dominican Republic.

At midday today, the hurricane’s center was east-northeast of Grand Turk Island in the southern Bahamas, according to the National Weather Service. Winds fell to 105 m.p.h.

Likely to Hit Mainland

Forecasters said it likely would hit the U.S. mainland later in the week but said it was too early to predict where. Cruise ships steamed out of the way, residents prepared along the North Carolina coast and Florida residents jammed the phone lines of insurance companies for financial protection.

“It’s a long way from any potential landfall,” said Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in suburban Coral Gables, Fla. “Unfortunately, the higher likelihood is that it will turn more west and could make landfall anywhere from south Florida to North Carolina.”

Hugo has left a trail of smashed homes, power failures and injuries in Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Antigua and the Virgin Islands since Sunday, and widespread looting by machete-wielding mobs was reported on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Sailboats were blown out of the water and thrown up to 150 feet on shore in St. Thomas, and some waterfront businesses have disappeared.

Cleanup efforts were under way today throughout Puerto Rico. Gov. Rafael Hernandez-Colon said at least 27,900 people were left homeless and asked President Bush to declare it a disaster area.

Hugo’s winds overturned cars, peeled roofs off houses and office buildings and sent chunks of concrete plunging into streets in San Juan, where one-third of the U.S. commonwealth’s 3.3 million people live.

The winds ripped out glass, walls and furnishings from the top four floors of a 25-story building in the Santurce section, leaving only beams remaining.