Total blackout in Cuba after the passage of hurricane 'Ian'

AME509.

HAVANA (CUBA), 09/28/2022.- View of fallen trees in a street after the passage of Hurricane Ian today, in Havana (Cuba).

At least two people have died in Cuba due to Hurricane Ian, which as a category three crossed the island from south to north at its western end this Tuesday causing serious damage.

EFE/ Juan PalopJuan Palop (EFE)

More than 11 million Cubans were left without electricity on Tuesday and 24 hours later they are still in the same situation and with the uncertainty of when the service will be restored.

The national electrical system collapsed due to the damage caused by Hurricane

, of category 3 ―raised to 4 after leaving Cuba in the direction of Florida― and with winds of more than 200 kilometers per hour as it passed this morning through Pinar del Río, the westernmost province of the country, and that the cyclone did not affect fully to the most important economic centers of the country.

The island authorities limited themselves to saying in a concise note that due to an "exceptional condition", which may last for some time without specifying, there would be no electricity throughout the island, informing that the service will be restored little by little and first in the provinces that were not fully affected by the meteorological phenomenon, mainly in the east and center of the island.

Floods and damage to western coastal areas are severe.

Numerous localities were isolated on Tuesday, and the effects on agriculture have been described as "severe" in Pinar del Río, including in the tobacco areas, one of the main exportable items in the country.

Official loss figures have not yet been released, nor has it been reported if there have been fatalities.

On Wednesday the situation was still very confused.

Despite the fact that

did not hit Havana with all his force, the city experienced a situation of chaos on Tuesday amid the unexpected blackout, to which were added total and partial collapses of houses and numerous streets cut off by electrical poles and fallen trees. western Cuba and also in the capital.

The collapse of the national energy system surprised Havanans and the inhabitants of central and eastern Cuba, where the winds and rains caused by the cyclone were not of great magnitude.

Never before had a hurricane caused the complete collapse of the national electricity system, at a time of serious electricity crisis due to the lack of maintenance of thermoelectric plants, which break down daily and cause power cuts that sometimes exceed 12 hours a day.

The population is distressed and exhausted by this situation, and Ian has come to aggravate a problem that is structural and has a difficult short-term solution.

Cuba has been suffering from a serious economic crisis for a long time and shortages are general, which forces Cubans to live from day to day and makes it almost an impossible task to get food to resist a misfortune like the one that is happening now.

The lack of electricity has meant that in many homes there is also no gas or water, and that the few perishable foods that people keep can spoil.

Restoring power is now the top priority.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the most affected western areas of the country on Tuesday and said that all available resources will be used to overcome the emergency.

The situation there is serious, and the authorities warn that getting out of this catastrophe will take time, since the country's resources for it are limited.

The extensive eye of the hurricane, a calm area around which the strongest winds are found, passed through the city of Pinar de Río around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, and the apparent stillness remained for just over an hour. .

Before and after came the horror, which was portrayed like this by Pinar del Río writer Nelson Simón: “We are in the dark.

The noise and the buffeting of the wind are hellish.

It has stopped raining a while ago.

The wind is sustained and from time to time increases its intensity.

It is as if everything were shaken… When the wind picks up, one closes one's eyes and squeezes one's eyelids as if wanting to hold onto what surrounds us”.

A journalist from the city described it this way: “The wind is roaring outside, you can feel things flying.

We don't know what we'll see when we hit the streets tomorrow."

The hurricane is already far from Cuba and is advancing towards the coast of Florida, the weather has improved and the situation is returning to normal, although on Wednesday in many neighborhoods of the capital there were many streets cut off by fallen trees.

Fears that the hurricane could fully affect Havana, where many buildings and houses are in poor condition, have passed.

However, the heavy rains and winds that hit the city may cause landslides in the coming days, as has happened on other occasions.

So far, no fatalities have been reported in Havana.

In Pinar del Río and in other towns in the west of the country, tens of thousands of people living in low-lying areas were evacuated to safe places, some to state centers and others relocated to the homes of relatives and friends.

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