Hurricane force winds are lashing western Cuba, as Hurricane Ivan continues its destructive path through the Caribbean. The storm has killed at least 44 people, but forecasters say things could have been much worse, if the center of the storm had not missed Jamaica, The Cayman Islands and now Cuba.

Hurricane Ivan brought its destruction to Cuba's western Pinar del Rio Province, but forecasters say the center of the storm will pass well to the west of Havana. Jack Beven, a hurricane forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami says residents of western Cuba can expect a battering from Ivan.

"If the strongest winds of the hurricane actually come onshore in western Cuba the effects will be devastating, because the maximum winds are 160 miles per hour [250 kilometers per hour] and when the full fury of that comes on shore it will have a considerable impact in western Cuba," says Mr. Beven.

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