Hurricane Oscar has made landfall in Cuba on Sunday, where the population has been affected by a nationwide power outage for several days.
Oscar hit the country on Sunday at 17:50 local time, which was 22:50 Danish time.
On its arrival, it had wind gusts of up to 130 kilometers per hour and is thus a category 1 hurricane. It is the lowest step on a five-step scale of hurricane strength.
It was from shortly before midday on Friday that the country’s largest power plant, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, shut down and caused a nationwide power failure.
On Saturday, power was partially restored before collapsing again.
Cuba’s government has said that power should be restored to most of the country by Monday evening.
The Minister of Energy and Mining, Vicente de la O Levy, said on Sunday that the electricity for the latter will be restored on Tuesday.
For several weeks, there have been repeated power outages in Cuba – often up to 10 to 20 hours a day over most of the country.
On Saturday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said authorities in the east of the country were “working hard to protect the population and economic resources” ahead of Oscar’s arrival.
In the capital, Havana, there is no light in most neighborhoods as a result of the power failure. Only hotels, hospitals and few homes that have emergency generators are not blacked out.
– God knows when the electricity will come back, says the 41-year-old mechanic Rafael Carrillo to AFP.
The country is already challenged by high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.
Many Cubans have left the country because of the problems. Between January 2022 and August 2024, 700,000 Cuban citizens have taken to the United States, according to figures from the American authorities.
/ritzau/AFP
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
