18 more hours before it was absorbed by an approaching cold front. Preparations Cuba As Hurricane Michelle approached the Cuban coast, the government of Cuba issued a hurricane watch for the western Cuban provinces of Pinar del Río, La Habana, Matanzas, and Isla de la Juventud at 2100 UTC on November 1. The following day, the same hurricane watch was extended eastward to include all provinces from Pinar del Río to Ciego de Ávila; all hurricane watches in Cuba were upgraded to hurricane warnings at 1100 UTC on November 3. All warnings in Cuba were discontinued once Michelle began to accelerate out to sea at 1200 UTC on November 5. Prior to reaching the coast, Michelle was expected to be the strongest Cuban tropical cyclone in at least 75 years. The Cuban Red Cross deployed 24,500 volunteers across Cuba to assist civil defense teams in evacuation procedures for potentially affected populations. By November 4, an estimated 590,000 people were evacuated across the country, including 80 percent of the population of the province of Pinar del Río. In Havana, authorities evacuated 150,000 people. Coastal tourist resorts were cleared, and 35,500 students were evacuated out of camps hosted on the Zapata Peninsula. On Cuba's southwestern islands including Cayo Largo and Isla de la Juventud, 500 tourists were evacuated. The entire population of Surgidero de Batabanó was evacuated. In addition to the evacuations, the government sent food, water, and medicine supplies to areas south of the capital. All domestic and international flights to and from the country were cancelled. Elsewhere At 1700 UTC on November 1, a tropical storm watch was issued for Grand Cayman Island. Three hours prior, the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning in conjunction with a hurricane watch for areas of the Florida Keys from Ocean Reef, Florida to the Dry Tortugas. At 0300 UTC on November 4, a hurricane watch was issued for areas of the northwestern and central Bahamas. At the same time, a new tropical storm warning was issued for the east coast of Florida between Jupiter Inlet and Ocean Reef, and for the state's western coast south of Bonita Beach. At 0600 UTC, the tropical storm watch for Grand Cayman was upgraded and extended to include the entirety of the Cayman Islands. Six hours later, the hurricane watch for the Florida Keys was upgraded to warning status. Early the next day, a hurricane