HAVANA, June 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — The remnants of Pacific Hurricane Agatha have brought heavy rains and floods to Cuba, leaving at least three people dead and one missing and damaging many areas of the Caribbean nation, the government said.
Two people were killed when a building partially collapsed in the capital Havana, while a third person was found dead after falling into a swollen river in the western province of Pinar del Rio.
The provincial government told Cuban state media outlet Cubadebate that another person from the municipality of Minas de Matahambre is missing.
As the Atlantic hurricane season begins, torrential rains continue to batter the western and central regions of the island.
In the hardest-hit Pinar del Rio, the Cuyaguateje River burst its banks, cutting off road access to nearby communities. In Havana, heavy rainfall led to floods and power cuts that affected thousands of people.
Havana government coordinator Orestes Llanes said the rains have caused about 60 partial house collapses citywide, and evacuations are underway in some of the capital’s low-lying areas.
In the western province of Artemisa, local authorities reported damage to crops and building roofs due to the rains.
According to Cuba’s National Institute of Meteorology, heavy rainfall continue as Hurricane Agatha approaches the southern U.S. state of Florida.
Agatha originated from a surface trough south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and is the first hurricane of the 2022 Pacific hurricane season. It made landfall in southern Mexico on Monday afternoon as a category 2 hurricane, leaving at least nine people dead and six others missing, according to Mexican authorities.
The Pacific hurricane season runs through November. — NNN-XINHUA
