Cuba's national power grid suffered a nationwide power outage That's because Hurricane Rafael made landfall on the island's southwest coast as a strong Category 3 hurricane.
The country's state-run power company Union Electrica said in a brief statement on Wednesday: “High winds from powerful Hurricane Rafael have disrupted the country's power system. Emergency response protocols have been applied.”
The Ministry of Energy and Mines previously announced that “controlled power circuit disconnections” would be carried out to avoid accidents and power outages.
The outages came shortly before the US National Hurricane Center announced that the storm had made landfall in the western Cuba province of Artemisa, causing “life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force wind damage and flash flooding.”
Wednesday's power outage and storm came three weeks after the island was battered by Hurricane Oscar, as a failure at the island's largest power plant and fuel shortages caused a four-day nationwide power outage. Since then, there have been sporadic power outages.
The outage prompted expressions of anger on online forums, with many pointing out that Cuba's power grid has withstood larger hurricanes in the past, including 2017's Category 5 storm Irma. Others complained that power outages had already been in place in most parts of the country for most of the past week.
“this [announcement] Other states have been without power for days, so obviously it's because of Havana,” one person commented.
A cyclone warning was issued for nine provinces in western and central Cuba, including the capital Havana. More than 70,000 people have been evacuated from their homes at Guantanamo in the east, where eight people were killed by Hurricane Oscar last month.
The storm appeared to be passing between the small mountain village of Soroa and Las Terrazas, a hamlet established as an ideal community shortly after the revolution and designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
“I don't think anyone expected it to become a Category 3 storm,” said a farmer who lives in the hurricane's path. “I don’t think anyone was really ready for it.”
In Havana, the storm ravaged the city, with howls, heavy rain and the crash of falling stones. Wind gusts of up to 115 km/h (71.6 mph) were recorded near Casablanca, on the edge of Havana Bay.
The office of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel reported on Tuesday that it was mobilizing a national defense council made up of military personnel due to the storm. “We have activated the National Defense Council to pay the utmost attention to the passage of Hurricane Rafael,” Diaz-Canel said on the X program.
“Measures are being taken everywhere to protect our people and material resources,” he added. “We will overcome this situation, as we have always done since the revolution.”
In the village of Alquizar, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Havana, Riset Herrera, 57, said he could not follow news about Rafael “because there is no electricity.”
The U.S. State Department has urged citizens to reconsider traveling to Cuba.
On Tuesday, the storm knocked out power in parts of Jamaica, causing flooding and landslides. Power outages were reported across the Cayman Islands following the blow late Tuesday, and schools remained closed Wednesday.
“Although the situation on Grand Cayman Island has improved, we advise residents to use extreme caution near roads and coastlines as rough seas and the risk of flooding may remain,” the government said in a statement.
Forecasters expected Rafael to weaken as it moved north toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, but was still expected to bring heavy rain to Florida and nearby areas of the southeastern United States by late week.
The National Hurricane Center predicted storm surge in Florida could reach 1 to 3 feet in the Dry Tortugas and 1 to 2 feet in the lower Florida Keys.
