Storm ‘Oscar’ hits Cuba as island grapples with blackout
HAVANA—Tropical storm “Oscar” made landfall as a hurricane on Sunday evening in Cuba, where residents were preparing for more chaos and misery as the country grapples with a nearly nationwide power outage in its third day.
The arrival of Oscar, after the Friday collapse of Cuba’s largest power plant crippled the whole national grid, piles pressure on a country already battling sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.
Cuba’s government said power would be restored to most of the country by Monday evening, with President Miguel Diaz-Canel warning his government would not tolerate public disturbances during the outage.
Oscar was a Category 1 storm when it made landfall in eastern Cuba at 5:50 p.m. local time on Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center said, before it weakened to become a tropical storm.
As of 11 p.m. local time, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds near 110 kilometers per hour, and it was expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba into Monday.
In Baracoa, waves reaching up to four meters high hit the seafront. Roofs and the walls of houses were damaged, and electricity poles and trees felled, state television reported.
Decrepit
Energy and Mining Minister Vicente de la O Levy told reporters on Sunday that electricity would be restored for most Cubans by Monday night, adding that “the last customer may receive service by Tuesday.”
The power grid failed in a chain reaction on Friday due to the unexpected shutdown of the biggest of the island’s eight decrepit coal-fired power plants, according to the head of electricity supply at the energy ministry, Lazaro Guerra.
New disconnection
National electric utility UNE said it had managed to generate a minimal amount of electricity to get power plants restarted on Friday night, but by Saturday morning it was experiencing what official news outlet Cubadebate called “a new, total disconnection of the electrical grid.”
Most neighborhoods in Havana remain dark, except for hotels and hospitals with emergency generators and the very few private homes with backup systems.
After three days of no power, “my fridge has defrosted and I’m afraid that everything will be spoiled,” said Adismary Cuza, a 56-year-old worker.
“Cubans are tired,” added Serguei Castillo, 68.
The blackout followed weeks of power outages, lasting up to 20 hours a day in some provinces.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on Thursday declared an “energy emergency,” suspending non-essential public services in order to prioritize electricity supply to homes.
And on Sunday, President Diaz-Canel warned that the government would act “severely” against anyone who attempted to “disturb public order” during the blackout.
That statement came as witnesses reported residents in several neighborhoods of Havana had taken to the streets on Sunday night to express their discontent.
