Rains Leave Nearly 300 Damaged Homes in Western Cuba
In the early hours of Saturday, the authorities indicated the formation of the tropical storm Alex, which has winds of 80 kilometers per hour.
HAVANA TIMES – Tropical storm Alex, which passed to the west and north of western Cuba has already left nearly 300 damaged homes, topped by Havana, where 148 of these were reported as of Saturday night, according to the official Granma newspaper. There have also been at least 53 collapses in Pinar del Río, 32 in Mayabeque, and another 47 in Artemisa.
More than 8,500 people were evacuated to avoid a loss of lives. Of these some 7,750 were located in the homes of their relatives and about 800 are in evacuation centers. Electric service was interrupted to many homes in Havana, Pinar del Rio and Artemisa.
On Sunday morning, the Minister of Economy Alejandro Gil pointed out that the main effects are on housing, agriculture and electricity, totaling some 750 homes affected and 3,200 hectares of tobacco, sweet potato, cucumber and pumpkin crops damaged. He also said that there are 158,000 customers affected by the power outage. The Minister of Energy and Mines Livan Nicolas Arronte affirmed that some 4,487 clients in Pinar del Río and Artemisa still do not have electricity.
The areas most affected by the collapses were in the Havana neighborhoods of La Polar, El Fanguito and El Pentón, all very poor neighborhoods with houses made of light materials.
Weather stations reported accumulations of more than 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) of water.
So far, two deaths have been reported in Havana, a 69-year-old man in Centro Habana, who died from a building collapse, and another 54-year-old, who drowned in Boyeros.
A third deceased was reported in Pinar del Río, where the lifeless body of a passer-by who fell into a swollen stream on Friday morning and drowned. This was Yosvel Cabrera Álvarez, 44 years old. In his same neighborhood until Saturday night there was a missing citizen.
The intense rains have continued to cause flooding throughout western Cuba and the meteorological stations reported accumulations that exceeded 300 millimeters of water.
In the early hours of Saturday, the authorities indicated the formation of tropical storm Alex, which has winds of 80 kilometers per hour and was located 1,110 kilometers southwest of Bermuda. Despite the departure of the first cyclone of the hurricane season from the Caribbean, the rains will continue to affect the Island.
On Sunday, the rains are expected to be more intense in the mountainous areas and on the south coast. While in the west there will be cloudiness with some storms in the afternoon. In the eastern Cuban south, there will be abundant cloudiness and rain.
This is nothing but the embargo’s fault.