Cuba’s Perfect Storm: National Blackouts & Hurricane Oscar
Relatives and friends abroad are very worried over the desperate situation. Sunday night will be dark & dangerous in the most affected areas.
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES – Cubans throughout the island are now in their third day of a nationwide power failure. Local pots and pans protests have been occurring even in Havana, usually spared from the extent of the suffering faced in the interior of the country.
Many have seen the little food they have go bad and don’t even have the means to cook it before that happens, as the privation includes cooking gas. Millions are facing a drinking water shortage as the pumps into their neighborhoods and apartment buildings can not operate without electricity.
The government says Cuba hasn’t hit rock bottom, and many are asking what that might be like, since the direction of the country seems to be progressively worse.
Hurricane Oscar nears Guantanamo and Holguin
Now, a suddenly formed hurricane on Saturday is heading for a landing on the north coast of Guantanamo and Holguin sometime later on Sunday. Without electricity many residents don’t even have the means to stay informed about any civil defense preparations.
While Oscar is not a major hurricane, nor does the system have a wide radius of hurricane force winds, it could bring much heavy rain as it is projected to slow down its movement speed when approaching the north coast of Cuba. After moving inland it is projected to affect the north coast of Las Tunas and Camaguey with tropical storm force winds and rain before turning north towards The Bahamas.
The Cuban Weather Service (Insmet) is forecasting moderate sea surges and coastal flooding in low lying areas from Las Tunas to Guantanamo starting midday on Sunday.
At 11:00 AM (ET and Cuba time) Hurricane Oscar packs maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and is moving west – southwest at 7 mph (11 kph).
Meanwhile, the national power outage continues with the government promising a slow recovery. The picture is bleak: Sunday night will be dark and dangerous in the most affected areas.
Since about 11am , Sunday, October 20, I have been unable to reach family members in Guantanamo by cellular phone. Worse yet, if the power outage continues, cellphone batteries are likely to run out even once cellphone service is restored. If this isn’t rock bottom, can someone describe what rock bottom looks like?