Posted on 22/10/2024 – 6:49 CEST•updated 8:22 ago
The island nation fell apart due to bad weather and damage to the power supply system
Six people lost their lives in Cuba due to the impact of Cyclone Oscar, announced Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
“Unfortunately, according to preliminary information, six human lives have been lost in the community of San Antonio del Sur,” in the province of Guantanamo (East), the head of state said during a speech broadcast live on state television.
Outside the community of San Antonio del Sur, Imias, in the same province, on the east of the island, was hit hard. There was “flooding on a level never recorded in history”, he said.
“The revolutionary armed forces and the Ministry of Interior have been put in charge of rescue operations in the communities of Guantanamo, where some zones are still inaccessible,” said President Diaz-Canel later through X.
Oscar, which was downgraded to a tropical storm when it made landfall, lashed the island nation with heavy rain.
As of Sunday afternoon, waves reached up to four meters in the province of Guantanamo. Houses were damaged, and power poles and trees fell to the ground, according to the official press.
For Cuba’s approximately 10 million residents, the arrival of the cyclone, along with a major power outage continuing from Friday, will lead to shortages of food, medicine and massive inflation.
Regarding the state of the energy system, President Díaz-Canel said yesterday that “more than 36%” of the grid is back on “in a stable manner” in a state of 10 million people.
In the capital, almost all residents (2 million) had power by the end of the day, according to the authorities. Various activities and traffic resumed.
Failures in the electricity generation and distribution system fueled the major anti-government protests in July 2021 in Cuba.