Fidel Castro is likening Hurricane Gustav’s destruction in Cuba to a nuclear explosion.

Gustav slammed into Cuba’s tobacco-growing western tip as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane while both Cubans and Americans scrambled to flee the storm as it roared toward the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans.

Gustav swelled into a fearsome Category four hurricane with winds of 145 mph today as Cuba raced to evacuate more than 240,000 people and Americans to the north clogged motorways fleeing New Orleans.