Hurricane Oscar caused six deaths as it passed over Cuba, which is still in the dark due to a blackout that has lasted for 5 days

2024-10-22 17:15:00

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Six people died during <a href="https://time.news/cubas-electric-grid-collapses-again-millions-remain-in-the-dark/" title="Cuba's electric grid collapses again, millions remain in the dark”>Hurricane Oscar‘s passage through Cuba, where the majority of the population continues no electricity after experiencing the fourth night of national blackout this Monday.

Oscar, now tropical stormabandoned the island, also leaving serious material damage, while the restoration of electricity has only reached 36% of the Cuban population of 10 million.

“Unfortunately, according to preliminary information, “There is the loss of six human lives in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a speech at the News about the stars of the night.

The president explained that the armed forces are leading relief efforts in the disaster area in the municipalities of San Antonio del Sur and Imías, “where There are still inaccessible areas” with “inundation levels that are not historically recorded”.

Recovery work progresses as Storm Oscar “leaves Cuban territory and is found in the seas north of the province of Holguín” (east), the Cuban Institute of Meteorology said in its latest report.

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The natural phenomenon, which entered the city of Baracoa as a category 1 hurricane, caused the total or partial loss of homes. Strong winds blew away the roofs and walls of houses and also toppled poles and trees, official television reported without showing images.

Cubans are “doing a lot of work” after the hurricane and the blackout

At the height of the energy emergency, Díaz-Canel reported that “36% of the service has been restored in the country, which is currently functioning with stability.” In Havana, which has two million inhabitants, almost the entire population had electricity.

The inhabitants of the capital showed their relief: “Of course I am happy, I need there to be strength, for everything to be restored, because I have a senile 85-year-old mother and an autistic child,” Olga Gómez told the AFP Agency , a 59-year-old housewife who lives in the old part of town.

“We’re doing a lot of work without electricity, without food, with everything,” he added.

A resident of La Tunas province (east) told AFP on condition of anonymity that electricity returned on Monday night and explained that in recent days she had had to cook “with firewood”.

Cuba, declared by the government to be in an “energy emergency”, suffered the total disconnection of its electrical system last Friday, after the collapse of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, the most important in the country.

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Authorities had promised on Sunday to restore service on Monday evening for the vast majority of the island’s population.

Díaz-Canel acknowledged that the situation of the electricity system is “complex”. The blackout caused clashes and protests in some neighborhoods of the capital over the weekend.

Cuba still without water or gas

Those who try “causing disturbances of public order” and participate in acts of vandalism “They will be treated appropriately with the rigor foreseen by the revolutionary laws”The president said this in military uniform on Sunday evening during a meeting of the National Defense Council, broadcast on state television.

As for the blackout protests, occurred in some neighborhoods of the capital, where many were also left without water or gas due to the power outage.

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Dozens of people, including women with children in their arms, came out in the dark with pots and pans to demonstrate in the populous neighborhood of Santos Suárez. “Turn on the light,” they shouted.

During the night it was possible to observe a strong police presence on the streets of the capital, while many have complained about the data service being cut on their cell phones.

On the island, electricity is generated through eight worn-out thermoelectric power plants, dependent on fuels, which in some cases are broken or are under maintenance, as well as several floating plants – which the government rents to Turkish companies – and generators.

Against shortages of food and medicine, skyrocketing inflation and chronic blackouts which limit the development of productive activities, Cuba faces its worst economic crisis in three decades.