HAVANA (AP) – On late Sunday, many Cubans anxiously waited as power across much of the island remained out, days after a country-wide blackout. Their worries intensified as Hurricane Oscar struck Cuba’s eastern coast, bringing heavy winds and rain.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy expressed hope during a press conference that the country’s electricity grid would be restored by Monday or Tuesday morning. However, he acknowledged that the arrival of Hurricane Oscar on Sunday evening posed an additional challenge to the recovery efforts, especially as the storm affected regions crucial to the country’s electricity generation. Important power plants like Felton, in Holguín, and Renté, in Santiago de Cuba, are located in this area.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms impacted Cuba’s eastern provinces, and two-meter-high waves battered the seafront promenade in Baracoa, near where Oscar made landfall. Although no fatalities have been reported, local media have documented damage to roofs and walls.
Some neighborhoods in Havana, Cuba’s capital with a population of two million, have had their electricity restored, but most of the city remains without power. The blackout has affected more than just lighting, as services like the water supply rely on electricity to operate pumps.
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As food began to spoil in refrigerators, people resorted to cooking on makeshift wood stoves in the streets.
Ylenis de la Caridad Napoles, a mother of a 7-year-old, broke down in tears, stating that she was reaching a point of “desperation.”
The Antonio Guiteras plant failure on Friday, which caused a total collapse of Cuba’s energy system, is just the latest in a series of issues plaguing the island’s electricity distribution. The country has experienced rolling blackouts, with power restricted and rotated across different regions throughout the day.
On Sunday, Cubans waited for hours to buy bread at the few bakeries that managed to reopen. People like Rosa Rodríguez have been without electricity for four days. “We have so many problems, and none of them are solved,” Rodríguez said. “We come to get bread because our local bakery is closed, and they bring it from elsewhere.”
Around half of Cuba was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening, followed by the entire island on Friday morning after another plant failure. Besides the Antonio Guiteras plant, other plants were also affected, though it remained unclear whether they were operational. The blackout has been considered the worst Cuba has experienced in two years, following Hurricane Ian in 2022, which caused severe damage to the power infrastructure.
Cuba’s government announced that some electricity was restored on Saturday, but with only 500 megawatts generated, far short of the usual 3 gigawatts the island needs. By Sunday, the available energy had fallen to 370 megawatts.
The government implemented emergency measures to reduce electricity consumption, including suspending school and university classes, closing some state-controlled workplaces, and halting non-essential services.
Local authorities attributed the outage to increased demand from businesses and residential air conditioners, coupled with breakdowns at aging thermoelectric plants and a shortage of fuel to run facilities.
Minister de la O Levy mentioned that Cuba’s energy grid would be in better condition if it hadn’t suffered two partial blackouts on Saturday during reconnection attempts. He added that nations like Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Russia had offered to provide assistance.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Oscar made landfall on Cuba’s eastern coast after hitting the southeastern Bahamas earlier in the day. The storm’s center hit Guantanamo, near Baracoa, on Sunday evening, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
The system is expected to move across eastern Cuba on Sunday night and Monday. Forecasters predict 6 to 12 inches of rainfall across eastern Cuba through early Wednesday, with some isolated areas receiving up to 18 inches. The National Hurricane Center also warned of a possible storm surge of up to 3 feet in some northern coastal areas of Cuba. The storm is expected to weaken as it crosses eastern Cuba, turning northeast and heading towards the central Bahamas on Tuesday.
By late Sunday, the storm’s center was located approximately 45 miles (75 kilometers) east of Guantanamo. Earlier that day, Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas.
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