Cuba hits second nationwide power outage as Hurricane Rafael approaches | Cuba

Cuba's national power grid failed nationwide as Hurricane Rafael hit the island's southwest coast as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, the country's national energy supplier, Union Eléctrica, said: “Strong winds caused by the powerful Hurricane Rafael have led to the shutdown of the national power grid. Emergency protocols have been applied.”

The Energy and Mines Ministry had previously said a “controlled shutdown of power circuits” would be carried out to avoid accidents and power outages.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm reached the western province of Artemisa, bringing “life-threatening storm surge, damaging hurricane-force winds and flash flooding.”

Cuba's meteorological institute Insmet had previously stated in an article

Wednesday's blackout and storm came three weeks after Hurricane Oscar hit the island during a four-day nationwide blackout caused by the failure of the island's largest power plant and a fuel shortage. Since then there have been sporadic failures.

Nine provinces in western and central Cuba, including the capital Havana, were placed on cyclone alert. According to Cuban media, more than 70,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, most of them in Guantánamo in the east, where eight people were killed by Hurricane Oscar last month.

The storm appeared to pass between Soroa, a small mountain village, and Las Terrazas, a settlement founded shortly after the revolution as an ideal community and part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

“I don’t think anyone expected it to reach Category 3,” said a farmer who lives in the hurricane’s catchment area. “I don’t think everyone was really ready.”

In Havana, the storm left a city in a state of disrepair, accompanied by howling winds, heavy rain and the crash of falling masonry. Gusts of 115 km/h (71.6 miles per hour) were recorded in the Casablanca area on the edge of Havana Bay.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel's office said Tuesday that it was mobilizing the military's National Defense Council because of the storm. “We have activated the National Defense Council to give maximum attention to the passage of Hurricane Rafael,” Díaz-Canel said on X.

“Measures have been taken at each location to protect our people and material resources,” he added. “As we have always done since the revolution, we will overcome this situation.”

In the capital, state television showed workers clearing drains, collecting trash and felling trees in preparation for Rafael. In the village of Alquizar, about 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Havana, 57-year-old Liset Herrera said she had not been able to follow the news about Rafael “because there is no electricity.”

Further south, in the coastal village of Guanimar, Marisol Valle, a 63-year-old farmer, came home briefly to pick up some belongings. She said that after the villagers were evacuated, “there didn't seem to be a soul left.”

The US State Department urged citizens to reconsider traveling to Cuba given the weather conditions.

Power went out in parts of Jamaica on Tuesday, triggering floods and landslides. Power outages were also reported in the Cayman Islands after a direct hit late Tuesday and schools remained closed on Wednesday.

“While conditions have improved on Grand Cayman, residents are advised to exercise extreme caution on roads and near the coast as rough seas and residual flooding risks may remain,” a government statement said.

Forecasters expected Rafael to weaken as it moved north toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, but it was still predicted to produce heavy rains in Florida and surrounding areas of the southeastern U.S. toward the end of the week.

The National Hurricane Center predicted storm surges in Florida could reach 1 to 3 feet in Dry Tortugas – and 1 to 2 feet in the lower Florida Keys. A few tornadoes were also expected over the Keys and southwest Florida on Wednesday.