A Bermudian musician on holiday in Cuba escaped the wrath of Hurricane Dennis over the weekend ? although it is estimated that 600,000 Cubans have been driven from their homes.

Speaking to from Havana yesterday, Ron Lightbourne said that 16 people have so far been confirmed dead by Cuban authorities as a result of the category four hurricane, which reached landfall in the south east of the country on Friday boasting winds of up to 150 miles an hour.

But aside from repeated blackouts ? which are a fact of life in the Caribbean nation at any rate ? and some international reports that Havana was ?pummelled? on Saturday morning, Mr. Lightbourne said that the storm passed to the east of them in the suburb of Capri and caused ?minimal? disruption to the capital other than the uprooting of trees.

However, those in some rural provinces were not so lucky, with an estimated 20,000 homes destroyed or damaged. Mr. Lightbourne?s wife Grisell is Cuban and the couple have been travelling south to stay with family for the past five years. They arrived for their summer holidays only a week ago ? ?just in time for the big blow? as Mr. Lightbourne put it.

?We are absolutely fine and Havana has been largely unaffected,? he said. ?There has been some loss of life in rural areas and we?ve heard a number of disturbing stories, including one woman who accidentally smothered her baby while trying to shield it from the rain. ?There are also reports that two old ladies refused to evacuate their house as instructed by the Cuban government ? which is a pretty serious offence in Cuba ? and the house they were in collapsed on top of them.?

One of the most extraordinary features of the Cuban response, Mr. Lightbourne revealed, was that 76-year old president Fidel Castro remained on domestic radio throughout the night, reassuring and advising the nation and quizzing meteorologists over the storm?s predicted path and strength.

?For a guy of his age, bearing in mind what he?s been through, to sit up through the night like that is pretty amazing,? Mr. Lightbourne said. ?But in general the civil response here has been extraordinary.?