Several municipalities in the province, including the capital city, have been affected by floods
14ymedio, Havana, September 28, 2025 — During Saturday afternoon and evening, both the official press and residents in Santiago de Cuba posted photos and videos showing flooded houses and villages. In some areas the residents had to take refuge on the roofs because the water was over three feet high.
An almost stationary tropical depression north of Holguín has brought heavy rains to all the eastern provinces and Camagüey. Granma and Santiago seem to be the most affected at the moment. According to the Institute of Meteorology of the Island (INSMET), there will be rain in this region on Sunday morning, which will intensify in the afternoon, “become strong in some localities and extend until late at night.”
According to the latest INSMET report, the morning tropical depression “over the past hours has remained with little change. In the night and early morning this Sunday, areas of heavy rain were concentrated in eastern Cuba, mainly in the provinces of Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba. This produced showers, rain and electrical storms that became strong and locally intense, with significant rain accumulated.”
The depression threatens to become a hurricane. “For the next few hours this system will remain on a similar trajectory increasing its speed [currently 6.8 miles per hour], as it continues to gain in organization and intensity, becoming during the next 12 to 24 hours a tropical storm,” said the Institute, which added that the rain can be very intense in the East, especially in mountainous areas.
The depression threatens to become a hurricane. “For the next few hours this system will remain on a similar trajectory, increasing its speed”
On social networks, residents of Santiago have reported floods in the municipality. “Hundreds of completely flooded streets keep residents on alert. The dawn has given way to day, and many families continue to have water coming into their homes,” official journalist Cuscó Tarradell wrote on Facebook.
There are also “more than 80 reports of failures in primary and secondary circuits of the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, according to confirmations of workers on duty at the Provincial Electrical Office,” which have caused power outages in several areas of the city. “In the municipality of Guamá, the villages of Aserradero and Uvero are among the most affected by electrical contingencies and floods,” added Tarradell.
In Baconao, where the Sigua River overflowed, five people were trapped on the roofs of facilities at Parque de la Fantasía. According to Cubadebate, two were rescued by Cuban Red Cross personnel in Santiago and the rest were assisted by local lifeguards.
“It should be noted that to reach this location you have to cross several dangerous rivers whose banks have overflowed,” said Aris Arias Batalla, provincial head of Aquatic Security Operations and Relief in Santiago de Cuba.
According to the rescue team, the village of Los Mamoncillos in Playa Verraco was also isolated due to the storm. “Homes were destroyed by its passage, and this was reported on Messenger by families living in rubble and brick houses with metal roofs,” he wrote.
In Granma, where the situation was more critical on Saturday, the consequences of the storm are still being felt. “The settlement of Hatibonico, in the municipality of Caimanera, has recorded the largest accumulated rainfall in the country in the last 24 hours,” reported Radio Bahia.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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