Entire island of Cuba without power after passage of Hurricane Rafael

Cubans are having a atrocious consciousness of deja vu aft the 2nd large hurricane and islandwide powerfulness outage successful 2 weeks.

The full land of Cuba has been near without powerfulness for the 2nd clip successful 2 weeks aft Hurricane Rafael tore crossed its occidental farmlands with raging winds, destroying crops and knocking down trees and powerfulness lines.

Information was scarce connected Thursday greeting aft the transition of the Category 3 tempest overnight, aft which Rafael mislaid strength arsenic it entered the Gulf of Mexico, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Forecasters warned that Rafael’s maximum sustained winds of 185km/h (115mph) could bring “life-threatening” tempest surges, winds and flash floods to Cuba, an land of 10 cardinal radical that is highly susceptible to atrocious upwind owed to its older, poorly maintained lodging and nationalist infrastructure.

Residents of the capital, Havana, emerged from their homes to inspect the harm and recovered streets comparatively adust aft Rafael ended up cutting done the land astir 60km (40 miles) westbound of the city, affecting Cuba’s internationally renowned tobacco-growing portion successful the state of Artemisa and Pinar del Rio.

Farmers had moved to support 8,000 tonnes of stored baccy leaves successful the country arsenic good arsenic ripening fruits and vegetables, Agriculture Minister Ydael Perez Brito said.

The streets of Havana were deserted connected Thursday. Most businesses and schools were closed, and transport services dilatory got backmost up and running.

Authorities grounded flights astatine some Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport arsenic good arsenic astatine the fashionable formation edifice astatine Varadero done Thursday.

Lights from a car illuminate a Havana thoroughfare arsenic the vigor grid suffers a blackout portion Rafael makes landfall successful Artemisa state arsenic a Category 3 hurricane [Norlys Perez/Reuters]

Deja vu

The bureau of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said it was mobilising the subject to assistance respond to the storm.

“Measures person been taken successful each spot to support our radical and worldly resources. As we person ever done since the revolution, we volition flooded this situation.”

But galore Cubans were near with a gloomy consciousness of deja vu, lacking assurance successful the quality of the cash-strapped communist authorities to supply indispensable services, specified arsenic nutrient and electricity, owed to its poor economical relations with its closest neighbour, the United States, and the constricted resources of its socialist allies, specified arsenic Venezuela, which is mired successful its ain political and economical crisis.

“I americium desperate, I americium homeless. The extortion is gone and I don’t cognize what I’m going to do,” Marta Leon Castro, 57, told the AFP quality agency. At slightest 5 families successful her neighbourhood had mislaid each oregon portion of their roofs.

“All the chickenhearted and pork I bought is going to get ruined successful the fridge if we don’t get powerfulness backmost soon,” Giovanny Fardales, a nonrecreational translator successful Havana, told Al Jazeera.

Barely 2 weeks ago, the land was deed by a similar powerfulness outage caused by problems with its ageing, oil-fired thermoelectric powerfulness stations.

That was followed by Hurricane Oscar a fewer days later, causing large demolition and sidesplitting six radical successful eastbound Cuba.

On that occasion, Cubans sweated done an islandwide blackout that lasted 4 days.

Busy hurricane season

Rafael is the 17th named tempest of the season, which ends this month, and lone the eighth large hurricane of Category 3 oregon stronger to signifier successful the period of November implicit the past 60 years.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane play was apt to beryllium good supra mean with 17 to 25 named storms. The forecast called for arsenic galore arsenic 13 hurricanes and 4 large hurricanes.

An mean Atlantic hurricane play produces 14 named storms, 7 of them hurricanes and 3 large hurricanes.

Rafael is the 11th hurricane to signifier this twelvemonth with 5 becoming major Category 3 storms with maximum sustained winds of 178km/h (111mph) oregon more.

Source

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies