Hurricane Rafael in Cuba | Most provinces have electricity again

(Havana) Much of Cuba had power again on Friday, two days after the hurricane hit Rafael and another widespread power outage, authorities announced.

According to the government, 13 of the country’s 15 provinces have been “reconnected” to the national electricity system, with the exception of the western provinces of Artemisa, the hardest hit by the hurricane, and Pinar del Río, at the extreme west of the island.

The province of Havana, where gusts reached 110 km/h, and that of Mayabeque were also reconnected to the electricity production system, but many residents remained without power due to the damage caused by Rafael on electrical poles and transformers.

“In the western provinces, work on installing circuits, erecting poles and laying power lines is underway. Havana has started to receive electricity,” the Cuban presidency said on X.

In the capital, where two million inhabitants live and where a thousand electrical poles have fallen to the ground, “several circuits remain affected by the passage of the hurricane,” said the authorities.

By midday, about 17 percent of Havana’s population had light again.

Rafaela category 3 hurricane (out of 5), swept with winds of up to 185 km/h the west of Cuban territory from south to north on Wednesday for more than two hours, before entering the Gulf of Mexico where it is expected to disintegrate, according to the latest information from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

No casualties were reported after the passage of Rafaelbut much material damage was recorded, with devastated agricultural fields, buildings and houses totally or partially destroyed.

In Havana, nearly 500 homes have totally or partially collapsed, according to local authorities.

The violent winds, even before Rafael does not make landfall, caused the collapse of the island’s electricity system on Wednesday, already weakened by its obsolescence and fuel shortages.

This is the second general blackout in less than a month: in mid-October, the system completely collapsed, leaving 10 million Cubans without power for four days.

Rafael hit Cuba barely two weeks after the passage ofOscara category 1 hurricane, which left eight dead in the east of the island during the previous blackout.

In September 2022, the island had already experienced a widespread power outage when the hurricane Ian had struck the west of the island.

Shaken by a deep economic crisis for four years, Cuba is experiencing a tense energy situation, with recurring power cuts and frequent breakdowns at its power plants.

In addition to the dilapidation of the latter, many of which are more than 40 years old, the reduction over the past two years in oil imports from Venezuela, the island’s main ally, have placed Cuba in a situation of extreme vulnerability.

Friday, on the occasion of a visit to Havana by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Chernychenko, the Russian embassy in Havana, cited by the official Cuban press, announced the sending by Moscow of 80,000 tons of diesel and equipment worth $62 million to respond to the energy crisis.