Cuba Hit by Second Blackout After Hurricane Rafael Tears Across Island

People at a bus stop shield themselves with cardboard amid wind and rain during the passage of Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 6, 2024. AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

Cuba’s national electricity grid has been knocked out for the second time in two weeks, after Hurricane Rafael, a category 3 storm, hit the island.

Massive waves hit the shoreline in the capital, Havana, on Wednesday night as heavy rain and strong winds buffeted the darkened city.

Forecasters warned Hurricane Rafael—which has already struck Jamaica and the Cayman Islands—could bring “life-threatening” storm surges and flash floods to Cuba.

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez—who succeeded Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, in 2021—wrote on X on Wednesday night: “I spoke with the first secretaries of the Party in the territories most affected by the hurricane, Rafael, where we will be tomorrow morning from the first hour to have more precise assessments on the ground. A new recovery process is already beginning.”

Cuba’s waterfront capital city, home to two million people, is vulnerable to storms, with decrepit, densely-packed housing and aging infrastructure.

‘I’m Scared’

On Wednesday night, Silvia Pérez, a 72-year-old retiree in Havana, said: “This is a night I don’t want to sleep through, between the battering air and the trees. I’m scared for my friends and family.”

Classes and public transport were suspended in much of the island and the government canceled flights in and out of Havana and Varadero.

Thousands of people in the west of the island were evacuated as Rafael crossed the province of Artemisa, a farming region, west of Havana, late on Wednesday.

By Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported Rafael had weakened to a category 2 storm after crossing Cuba and was now heading towards south-west Texas.

It said, at 4 a.m. EST on Thursday, Hurricane Rafael was recording maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, with higher gusts.

The latest power shortage comes two weeks after a four-day blackout on the island.

Between Oct. 18—Oct. 22, 10 million Cubans had no electricity as a result of the island’s energy crisis.

It was then hit by another hurricane, Oscar, which killed at least six people in the eastern part of the island.

17th Storm Of Hurricane Season

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season could see up to 25 named storms, compared to the average of 14.

Rafael was a category 1 hurricane when it hit the Cayman Islands, earlier this week, causing widespread power outages and flooding. It had earlier dropped heavy rain on Jamaica.

Cuba has been ruled by a communist regime since January 1959 when rebels led by Fidel Castro ousted the U.S.-backed president, Fulgencio Batista.

Propped up for decades by the Soviet Union, Cuba’s economic crisis has worsened in recent years, encouraging more Cubans to seek to migrate.

Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela has been supplying oil to Cuba, but this year imports have fallen from 51,500 barrels per day to 27,000, triggering an energy crisis.

Cuba has four wind farms, one of which is at Isla De La Juventud, an island off the southern coast of Cuba.

Osbel Lorenzo, a local official with the Cuban Communist Party, posted on X on Wednesday night, “The electrical workers at Isla De La Juventud are working hard to gradually restore services in the area, which should happen partly tonight and partly tomorrow, because it is an extremely complex task.”

Earlier Granma, the official voice of the Cuban Communist Party, reported the country’s prime minister Manuel Marrero Cruz had called on people not to be “complacent” about the hurricane’s passage.

Cruz reportedly said it was better to take “too much action than to fall short.”

Granma reported Celso Pazos Alberdi, director of Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology, had explained to the members of Cuba’s Council of Ministers on Wednesday, “there is a complex meteorological situation in our area, because it is not only Hurricane Rafael, but there are also areas of cloudiness, with showers and rain in the northern part of Cuba and the surrounding areas, which means that there is a high probability of precipitation throughout the country.”

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.