In Cuba, the entire country was without electricity after Hurricane Ian passed through on Tuesday (27th). The storm ravaged the west end of the island with wind and flooding and is now heading towards Florida in the United States.
Lázaro Guerra, technical director of Uniao Electrico de Cuba, said an outage in the national power grid, linked in part to the storm, has impacted infrastructure, state media reported.
“The system was already operating under complex conditions after Hurricane Ian passed through,” said Guerra, technical director of the Cuban Electricity Union. “Right now there is no electricity anywhere in the country.”
2 of 3 Partially destroyed road in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, after Hurricane Ian — Photo: Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
Partially destroyed road in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, after Hurricane Ian passed through — Photo: Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
The director said the union would work overnight to gradually restore power to the country’s 11 million residents as early as Wednesday.
Initially, the power was only interrupted in the region of the country directly affected by the storm. By early evening, however, the entire Cuban power grid had collapsed.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated and others fled the area before Hurricane Ian hit. Authorities are still assessing the damage, although no casualties have been reported so far.
3 of 3 Destruction from Hurricane Ian in Havana, Cuba — Photo: Ismael Francisco / AP Photo
Destruction from Hurricane Ian in Havana, Cuba — Photo: Ismael Francisco / AP Photo