Havana  - Hurricane Gustav hit Cuba like an atomic bomb last weekend, said the island's ailing former leader Fidel Castro.

In a commentary published under his name in the Communist Party daily Granma on Wednesday, Castro said the storm caused damages estimated at many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This amount would be needed only to satisfy the most elementary needs of the population, the 82-year-old former president said under the headline "A Nuclear Blow."

Gustav hit western Cuba on Saturday as a category-4 hurricane in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of over 230 kilometres per hour. The smaller island Isla de la Juventud and the region of Pinar del Rio were particularly devastated.

"What national television broadcast on Sunday reminded me of the desolation I saw when I visited Hiroshima, which was the victim of the attack with the first atom bomb in August 1945," Castro said.

He called upon his compatriots to prepare themselves for tough times and to reverse the effects of the hurricane using every bit of material that is available.

"We have to fight our superficiality and selfishness," the aging Castro said.

Castro stepped down in February after nearly a half century at the helm of the communist island. (dpa)