The effects of the hurricane will delay the recovery of electricity in Guantánamo province
EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2024 — Hurricane Oscar, weakened and downgraded to a tropical storm as it passed through the eastern region of Cuba, left at least six dead in the municipality of San Antonio del Sur, Guantánamo, the authorities reported on Monday. The storm continues slowly along its path, with heavy rain and winds that have caused material damage and the evacuation of thousands of people.
“At the moment there are forces from the Ministry of the Interior, the Armed Forces and the Red Cross participating in salvage and rescue actions” in San Antonio del Sur, said Colonel Argenis Perales Pérez, head of the Operations Department of the National Staff of Civil Defense, speaking on the Mesa Redonda program. He pointed out that the number of deaths is considered “preliminary data.”
The first hurricane of the current season in the Atlantic that has directly affected Cuban territory, Oscar entered on Sunday afternoon through a point near the city of Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo, where the greatest effects are recorded, according to official media.
“Greenhouses, homes, work centers, electrical lines and crops have suffered damage caused by the heavy rains and winds of Oscar,” reported Radio Guantánamo, illustrating its publication on networks with images of the city of Baracoa after the passage of the storm.
According to preliminary reports, both in Baracoa and the municipalities of Imías and Maisí, there are effects of varying magnitude in more than 1,000 homes, and large floods have forced the evacuation of several thousand people.
Oscar continues to weaken over the eastern region, and its maximum sustained winds are up to 37 miles per hour
Regarding the effects of the hurricane, state television has reported accumulations of rain up to 12 inches, overflowing rivers and flooding, washed-out roads and the loss of roofs due to the force of the winds.
The most recent hurricane warning from the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) has indicated that Oscar continues to weaken over the eastern region, and its maximum sustained winds are up to 37 miles per hour, with higher gusts.
The heaviest rainfall has spread to the province of Holguín and remains over Guantánamo and its adjacent seas, while the storm moves slowly to the west-northwest at only four miles per hour, adds Insmet.
It also warns, for the next few hours, of heavy and locally intense rains, showers and thunderstorms in much of the eastern region, and high tides on the north coast of the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín and Las Tunas.
According to forecasts, Oscar will remain in eastern Cuba for more than 24 hours and is expected to break from a point north of Holguín province on Monday night.
The effects of the system will delay the recovery of electricity in that territory of the Island, according to information from the authorities, on the fourth day that the country suffers from the collapse of the national energy system.
Oscar is the fifteenth hurricane of the current season, although the US National Hurricane Center has described it as “small.”
The meteorological services of the United States and Cuba warned months ago that this hurricane season in the Atlantic, which runs from June 1 to November 30, was going to be especially active.
The last time a major hurricane hit Cuba was in September 2017, when Irma advanced parallel to the north coast of the Island and caused ten deaths and material losses officially valued at 13,185 million dollars.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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