The number of evacuees is expected to reach 5,000 or 7,000 in the next few hours
14ymedio, Havana, October 31, 2025 — Cuba’s National Civil Defense General Staff maintains an alert status for the municipalities of Río Cauto and Cauto Cristo in Granma province, unlike the rest of Granma province and Santiago de Cuba, which are already in the “recovery” phase. According to the most recent report issued this Friday, both locations “continue to experience a complex hydrological situation, and efforts to protect the population are ongoing.”
Here’s the “complexity”: more than 2,000 people residing in Guamo, Granma, and other nearby towns have been evacuated in an emergency due to the abrupt rise of the Cauto River and the possibility that the dam will overflow as a result of the rains brought by Hurricane Melissa since Wednesday in eastern Cuba.
The decision has even affected residents in Jobabo, Las Tunas, and it is expected that more people will continue to arrive throughout the day, up to 5,000 or 7,000 according to some reports. The residents of Cauto Embarcadero, Melones and Cayama will be added to those evacuated, according to the local radio station Radio Cabaniguán.
The authorities have warned the population of “extreme danger” and insist that they should not return to their homes until instructed, as some people who have tried have ended up having to be rescued. The alert will remain in effect for the next few hours because the peak water level is expected up to 72 hours after the rain stops in the river’s headwaters.
This Wednesday, Miguel Díaz-Canel, dressed in olive green, visited the area. The president, who had previously been in Holguín, presented himself at the University of Granma, which has been set up as a reception center for 312 residents from various communities in the municipality of Cauto CrisEste.
José Ramón Castro Benítez, representative of the Communist Party of Cuba in the municipality of Granma, explained to the official press that 380 people, including 145 children and 159 women, were transferred to Bayamo, and another 68 are at the Simón Bolívar School of Physical Education Teachers.
“I can’t say much, because this was horrible, horrible, horrible,” a resident from Veguitas in Yara told the newspaper. “My family is fine, but there are many, many people who have lost everything, because they did not expect it to be so powerful.” The water, he says, miraculously did not enter his house. “All of Veguitas was covered in water, for more than 12 hours.”
As phone service was restored, residents of Veguitas began sending images of the area to their loved ones. “I’m shocked to see how high the water is, how it’s flooded into the houses,” a Havana resident told 14ymedio, commenting on photos he received from a cousin. “The river was just a trickle there, and people there think they released the dam, that something broke, because the flooding was sudden.”
“All of our meat is thawing.”
In Holguín, residents lament that everything is “chaos” and going “from bad to worse.” One resident told 14ymedio that the Electric Company is not providing any information about the work being done to restore power. “There’s no electricity even in the most privileged areas,” he asserted.
The provincial government has also taken no measures to alleviate the dramatic supply situation, and with private businesses closed, “they aren’t even selling food packages or anything to the people.” He concludes: “All our meat is is thawing.”
The United Nations estimates that there are currently around 700,000 people affected—20% of the residents in the affected provinces—who will require basic support for at least three months. Various NGOs and multilateral agencies are raising funds.
Melissa’s journey through Cuba can be traced by connecting on the map the towns that suffered the most damage from the floods or remain partially submerged, with residents doubly isolated by the water and the disruption of electricity and telecommunications. These are, from south to north: Bayamo, Jiguaní, Cauto Cristo, Contramaestre, Cauto, Cacocum, Urbano Noris, and Yara.
The Electric Union says that some 3.5 million Cubans – the vast majority of the population of the five eastern provinces – are without electricity.
The region’s main generation units (two thermoelectric plants and one fuel-fired power plant) were not seriously damaged, but the distribution lines have suffered from broken cables and fallen poles, and their repair will take days, especially in the less accessible areas.
Damage to telecommunications is also significant, according to the Ministry of Telecommunications, which reported that 75% of mobile lines in the eastern region were left without service after Hurricane Melissa. The telecommunications monopoly Etecsa indicated that repairs have begun on some fiber optic cables severed by the floods, but that most radio base stations (telecommunications antennas) are inoperative after being damaged by the hurricane or due to power outages.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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