HAVANA, Sept 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cuba is completely without power after Hurricane Ian pummelled the western end of the island, its government has announced.
The electrical system is experiencing total collapse, officials said, after one of the main power plants could not be brought back online.
Two people were reported dead and buildings were damaged nationwide.
A 43-year-old woman in the province was killed after the walls of her home collapsed. A farmer in the town of San Juan y Martínez was electrocuted while trying to shut off a wind turbine used for irrigation.
On Cuban state television on Tuesday, the head of the electrical energy authority announced that an island-wide blackout had occurred as a result of the national electrical system’s breakdown, leaving 11 million people in the dark.
Based in Matanzas, 100km east of the capital Havana, Antonio Guiteras is the most important energy plant in Cuba. Its shutdown means there is currently no electricity generation anywhere on the island.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel visited the province and vowed that it would rise “above adversity”, the Cuban presidency tweeted.
The category three hurricane, packing wind speeds of up to 195km/h (120mph), is now bearing down on Florida. The hurricane has been gathering force in the south-eastern Gulf of Mexico after leaving Cuba, says the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
It is projected to make landfall on Florida’s west coast late on Wednesday as a category four hurricane with wind speeds topping 130mph. Some 2.5 million people in Florida are under evacuation orders. — NNN-AGENCIES
