Gustav slammed into western Cuba with winds of 150mph, damaging or destroying 100,000 homes and leaving the authorities struggling to feed its people.
While much of the world's attention has been focused on residents fleeing America's Gulf Coast, the ailing 82-year-old has said that Cuba now faces "a battle to feed" its hurricane victims on the Isle of Youth, 40 miles off Cuba's southwestern coast.
Castro, writing in his regular internet column, said that agriculture had been badly affected and that television shots from the Isle of Youth reminded him of the Japanese city destroyed by a US nuclear bomb in 1945 at the end of World War Two.
Meanwhile, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has given residents the go-ahead to return to the city at midnight on Wednesday night but warned that many homes would be without electricity or working toilets and that a dusk-to-dawn curfew would still be in place.
"It's my humble opinion that the city is still in a very, very vulnerable state," Mr Nagin said.
Hundreds of thousands of people are eager to return home after spending several days in hot, overcrowded shelters but it is thought that nearly 800,000 homes in Louisiana are without power, including about 77,000 in New Orleans.
Elsewhere, President Bush is keeping a hands-on profile in the aftermath of the hurricane, in contrast to his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Mr Bush is due to fly to the Gulf Coast to survey the storm damage on Wednesday.
Prior to his departure Mr Bush said: "We are thankful that the damage in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast was less than many had feared.
"I commend the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas for their sure-handed response and seamless coordination with the federal government.
"I thank all of the wonderful volunteers who stepped forward to help their brothers and sisters in need," he told the Republican National Convention via satellite.
The President urged Gulf Coast residents to wait for local officials to give them the green light before returning home.
However, any return could be premature as another three storms are on the way.
Ray Nagin declared Gustav to be the "mother of all storms" and many people may decide to ignore calls to flee after Gustav did not cause the carnage it was expected to amid claims the authorities overreacted in demanding people leave their homes.
Catherine Jones, 53, of Silsbee, Texas, said: "Next time, it's going to be bad because people who evacuated likes us aren't going to evacuate. They jumped the gun," she added.
Officials defended the decision saying it was "better to be safe than sorry" after Katrina killed 1,600 people in 2005. Gustav has claimed nine lives in the US so far and there are still three months left in the Atlantic hurricane season. Three storms are currently lined up in the Atlantic.
Tropical Storm Hanna could strengthen into a hurricane and hit Florida and Georgia later in the week.
Hanna has already claimed 21 lives in Haiti and it is being closely followed by Tropical Storms Ike and Josephine.
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