Cubans Face New Total Power Outage as Hurricane Rafael Storms In

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – All 10 million residents of Cuba were hit with another total power outage on Wednesday, as Hurricane Rafael made landfall on the island’s western coast as a powerful Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph). The hurricane had swept by the Cayman Islands as a Category 1 storm before quickly strengthening to a powerful hurricane on its way to southwest Cuba.

With the US-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warning of a “life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds and flash flooding” across much of western Cuba, Hurricane Rafael tore into Cuba’s capital Havana late on Wednesday afternoon, Sky News reports.

Residents were ordered to seek shelter as high winds pulled down trees and power lines, and forecasters warned of flash flooding, Sky News said. Schools were closed and public transport was suspended.

As of Thursday, Rafael had weakened to a category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of around 105mph (170km) off the northwestern coast of Cuba. The storm is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico in the next few days, Sky News said.

Cuba has faced other major blackouts in recent weeks as the country’s power grid collapsed under the effects of Hurricane Oscar and fuel shortages from Venezuela and Russia.

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