HOUSTON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Some coastal areas in the U.S. state of Texas issued voluntary evaluation orders on Tuesday as intensified Hurricane Laura moved from the Gulf of Mexico towards the coastline.
Meanwhile, recovery work started in Cuba's eastern and central provinces where the tropical storm damaged homes and crops, and electrical and telephone networks.
Laura strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday morning as it entered the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. National Hurricane Center projected Laura is expected to intensify on a path to hit the U.S. coastline late Wednesday or early Thursday as a major Category 3 hurricane capable of inflicting "devastating" damage.
It will hit the coastline in East Texas or West Louisiana with sustained wind speeds of over 160 km per hour. Although the hurricane will weaken quickly after landfall, a swath of heavy rainfall will likely accompany the core of Laura as it moves north-northeast Thursday night and Friday.
As of Tuesday morning, hurricane warnings were issued for parts of the northwestern Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana. Texas' Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued a voluntary evacuation effective immediately, saying that "all of us need to be prepared for the very real potential of a direct hit from the storm."
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is asking people to stay off the roads. "I am asking Houstonians to be off the road by 8:00 p.m. tomorrow if not sooner," he tweeted. "This is a serious event and we should treat it as such."
Earlier, in Texas Galveston, an island along the Gulf Coast, officials encouraged people who live without the protection of the seawall to evacuate.
Following the passage of Laura, Cuba on Tuesday started recovery efforts. Average Cubans joined in the task, clearing debris and cleaning neighborhoods, as brigades of technicians worked to restore electricity and fixed telephone service after the storm knocked down trees and electrical poles.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has called for prioritizing recovery on the island.
The philosophy is to end the damage "so they can be removed immediately, as we did with last year's tornado in Havana," the president emphasized at a meeting of the Economic-Social Organ of the National Defense Council earlier this week.
Laura moved on from Cuba on Monday night near Puerto Esperanza in the northern town of Vinales in western Pinar del Rio province, where some areas still saw heavy rain early Tuesday.
As Laura passed over the country's southern coast, the storm lashed the region with heavy rain and maximum sustained winds of 100 km per hour.
Preliminary reports said more than 1,000 homes sustained damage, mainly to their roofs.
About 316,000 people were evacuated in the country, most of whom went to homes of relatives and neighbors, Chief Staff of the National Civil Defense Ramon Pardo Guerra said. Enditem
