Daily News from New York, New York • 3

3 DAILY NEWS Monday. September 18, 1989 Pi 1 PI Fl rPPPB Hv) Lj Vn k'ti 'in I riv-'i 8ERMOOA I i 0 1 US. A a UUml Atlantic Ocean I. r'l iji Vti It-iJl BuaJI fa. nr Virgin Islands hit as Hugo nears Puerto Rico VIRGIN ISLANDS i 1 0 I JAMAICA OOMINICAN POEHTO I -OUAOELOUPE By MARK J.

PRENDERGAST Daily News Staff Writer SAN JUAN Packing 140-mph winds, killer Hurricane Hugo today neared Puerto Rico's southeast coast, after cutting a swath of devastation in the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands. Six deaths were blamed on the storm, but the toll was ex- Caribbean Sea '1' 7 x5 P-O i (32 VJ VENEZUELA pected to rise sharply as rescue workers moved in along 'Hugo's path, from the French island of Guadeloupe, 250 miles to the southeast, to Puerto Rico. Hugo, drawing its might from the deeply warmed tropical waters of late summer, was on a course to hit Puerto Rico before dawn. The National Guard here was mobilized yesterday and residents battened down the hatches as the howling 'cane, churning 20-foot waves, bore down.

San Juan's airport was closed last night and cruise ships due to call were diverted as the island braced for the monster storm. Last night, winds of more than 90 mph ripped off roofs and knocked out power on the three U.S. Virgins, St Thomas, St. Croix and St John, which lie scattered in the waters less than 100 miles east of Puerto Rico, officials said. St.

Thomas and St. Croix have most of the Virgins' population. Officials said stores in the St Croix town of Christian-sted were heavily damaged and there were reports of looting. Gen. Robert Moore-head, adjutant of the U.S.

Virgins National Guard, which was mobilized, said 1,000 people were evacuated to rescue shelters in St Croix. 120 miles away At midnight, the storm center was reported about 120 miles east southeast of San Juan, the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, said. Yesterday, in a live broadcast, Puerto Rican Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon warned: "Conditions are ex- treme and very dangerous. To citizens in floodable areas, to those who live close to the sea, to those who live in areas threatened by landslide and to those who live in houses with weak structures move immediately to safe areas." He closed his sometimes emotional address "with serenity in our spirit and faith in the providence of almighty God." Last night, evacuations were under way for 3,000 people on the southeast coast where Hugo was heading for a landfall, and 5,000 in rickety, impoverished areas and low-lying seaside neighborhoods in San Juan.

5 killed Guadeloupe state radio said five people were killed early yesterday when the storm hit the French island, located 300 miles southeast of here. Damage also was reported on the islands of Martinique, Antigua and Domini-ca. Some deaths were reported on Antigua, a British dependency, 275 miles southeast of here. The eye of the storm passed over St. Francois, a major tourist area on the eastern end of Guadeloupe.

St Francois' mayor, Ernest Moutous-samy, said on Caraibe radio that "there's nothing left of St. Francois." A meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, Miles Lawrence, said Hugo was expected to continue west to the Dominican Re- public and then to the Bahamas after lashing Puerto Rico. Lawrence said it was too soon to forecast whether the U.S. mainland would be spared. xmffA J' t.

iv'i -t i-f 'v 'J 1 T-r yi'f; 'l JL 4 v- FAMILY FLIGHT: The 11-member Ramirez family prepares to flee uninvited guest, Hugo, as it bears down on San Juan. The family is evacuating its Old San Juan seaside home for higher ground, mismaerwitt daily news For Hiiig9 fa Puerto Ricans' faith in divine intervention, Rosado does not believe that if Hugo's wrath visits itself on this island that faith will weaken. Rather, he said, "If this time it comes, then they will be thankful the other times they were spared." There have been only six major hurricanes to strike the island in the last century. The most recent were Santa Clara (known as Betsy in the U.S.) in 1956 and San Ciprian in 1932. But grocery stores have been nearly stripped of provisions as cautious city residents stocked up, just in case this time there was no miraculous, 11th- for the worst "Our will depend on how much people cooperate.

If this storm hits us, we could have 2,000 or 3,000 refugees." He added: "A miracle I would appreciate very much." As in the continental United States, much of the effort to mobilize the population is devoted to convincing people the situation really is dangerous. Dockworker Francisco Rosado Rivera, 33, Brooklyn born and reared, was hustling through ghost-town streets to his mother's house, where he hoped to be of "help to my family-and my community." Although he, too, acknowledged By MARK J. PRENDERGAST Daily News Staff Writer SAN JUAN Puerto Ricans juggled prayer, good luck and high technology yesterday as Hurricane Hugo aimed its 140-mph fury at them. "I think God will protect the island," declared taxi driver Luis Ramos, 68. "The land, the trees, the mountains are all around us," he said, waving a calloused hand at the canyons of shuttered high-rises downtown.

"I think they will break it up." Civil Defense Deputy Director Juan Ruiz said that he, too, will "hope for a miracle," but urged people to prepare By INGRID DEVITA and MARK KR1EGEI Daily News Staff Writers While several vacationing New Yorkers managed to catch final flights home from Puerto Rico last night, many here waited for news and prayed for loved ones stranded in the path of Hurricane Hugo. "I've never been more happy to come home. You would not want to be in Puerto Rico tonight," said Sonia Bandoo, 45, of Brooklyn, hurrying off a See SAFETY Pafee I rft 1 )r U' uri A in ft; 4 I )l ii U3i.4V mi. Ml 3 It li IT.