Without electricity since Friday, residents of Cuba and travelers from Quebec are worried, a few hours before the passage of the hurricane Oscar, which risks complicating the already precarious situation.
Gilles Audet spends several months in Havana each year, but for him it is “the worst breakdown he has experienced in Cuba.” It was impossible to speak to him on the phone since currently, in several parts of Cuba, the internet connection is very weak. “It’s very difficult to communicate, it’s worrying,” he expresses
Several Quebec travelers on social networks are very worried. On Saturday, travelers who were preparing to fly to Cuba were wondering. “We didn’t hear anything from the travel agency. No news,” said a Quebecer on LCN.
She wasn’t the only one. Several customers who boarded the four planes leaving Montreal for Cuba deplored not having received any communication from their airline or their travel agency.
At his side, a man expected the worst since several hotels in Cuba were in the dark.
The hurricane Oscar
Oscarthe 18the named hurricane of the season is expected to hit eastern Cuba Monday evening. Regions near the cities of Holguín, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba, in particular, are at risk of being affected. The Government of Canada issued a travel advisory this morning to avoid all non-essential travel to the Holguin, Guantanamo and Las Tunas regions.
The hurricane is currently category 1. Winds of up to 130 km/h can be expected.
Since Friday, the country has been suffering a major power outage after one of the most important thermoelectric plants, Antonio Guiteras, stopped working. Electricity has since been restored to a few places, but the majority of people are still in the dark.
In Guadelevaca, people prepare for the arrival ofOscar. People have installed PVC water tanks on their roofs and on the antennas and protect their windows, according to what Mario Da Rocha, who lives in the city, observes.
“One of the biggest issues right now is that people can’t charge their phones to contact their family, because of the outage,” says Mr. Da Rocha. “They line up at the local restaurant which has a generator to plug in their devices.”
A gradual return of electricity
On Sunday afternoon, the Cuban government announced that it would restore the country’s electricity system by Monday evening, before the hurricane hits the coast.
In the region around the town of Matanzas, near Varadero, where the Guiteras power plant is located, electricity was already restored on Sunday morning. “In Matanzas we have electricity since we are next to the power station,” explains Journal Andres Villa Diane who lives in the city.
Difficulty getting to work
“Currently a lot of people in hotels are mentioning a lack of staff,” explains Maria, nicknamed La Cubacoise on social networks. She receives several messages from her contacts in Cuba as well as from Quebecers who are traveling there. Currently, due to the difficulty in obtaining fuel, many transportation systems cannot operate.
“It is certain that someone who has not had electricity for 30 hours, who is not able to cook, who is not able to wash and who is not able to have access transportation will not be conducive to getting to work,” she explains.
Cuba is now in what is called a “national shutdown” (national strike in Spanish). “Schools and non-essential services are closed until further notice, food stores are closed too, because the country does not have the electrical capacity to operate them safely,” says Maria.
