Gustav like nuke bomb, says Castro

Fidel Castro likened Hurricane Gustav's destruction in Cuba to an atomic explosion, saying yesterday it could mean billions of dollars in losses for the country.

Video images of the devastation on Cuba's Isla de la Juventud reminded Castro of "the desolation I saw when I visited Hiroshima, which was the victim of an attack of the first atomic bomb in August 1945," the ailing former president wrote in a column carried in government news media.

Gustav reached Category 4 strength with winds of 220 kph when it slammed into the outlying island on Saturday, then re-entering the Gulf of Mexico and continuing to the US. Gustav's winds were down to about 175 kph by the time its center hit Louisiana two days later.