The hurricane reached helpless Cuba – news.ORF.at

The center of Hurricane Oscar made landfall in Cuba, where many people were without power for more than 50 hours.

According to the US Hurricane Center (NHC), the hurricane reached Cuba in the early evening (local time) as a weaker Category 1 of 5 hurricane on the northeastern coast. There was no information initially about the damage. The Bahamas also reported strong winds and rain.

Power outage throughout the island

In Cuba, the old and dilapidated power grid collapsed on Friday morning, leading to power outages across the island. Since then, large parts of the country, with a population of about ten million people, have been forced to go without electricity.

Power returned to parts of the capital, Havana, on Saturday afternoon, but was cut off again about six hours later.

Severe economic crisis

The country, which is ruled autocratically by the Communist Party, is experiencing one of the worst economic crises since the 1959 revolution several years ago, and among other things, there are shortages of food, medicine and fuel. The country lacks foreign currency for import. Many people are fleeing abroad, according to the government, and the population has shrunk by a total of about ten percent in 2022 and 2023 alone.

Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O said that electricity could gradually return to all its lines by Tuesday. But the situation remains tense.