Tropical Storm Oscar is making Cuba’s nationwide power outage even worse

Oct 21, 2024 08:31 PM - 5 months ago 184910

Tropical Storm Oscar is making it harder to reconstruct powerfulness successful Cuba aft a massive, prolonged powerfulness outage that preceded the storm.

The nation’s powerfulness grid failed connected Friday aft Cuba’s largest powerfulness works went offline, leaving much than 10 cardinal group without electricity. The grid reportedly collapsed four much times earlier Oscar made landfall arsenic a Category 1 large wind connected Sunday evening.

Oscar is hitting a cardinal region for powerfulness procreation wherever astatine slightest 2 important powerfulness plants successful the metropolis of Holguín Santiago de Cuba are located. The large wind creates “an further inconvenience,” the Associated Press reports Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy saying successful a news conference. The large wind is still barreling done Cuba today, posing caller dangers to residents and complicating efforts to get the powerfulness grid moving again.

Oscar is still vulnerable moreover though it has weakened into a tropical large wind since making landfall. Heavy rainfall is expected to trigger “life-threatening flash flooding on pinch mudslides crossed portions of eastbound Cuba, particularly wrong the Sierra Maestra” done midweek, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Authorities are moving pinch the purpose of restoring power by Tuesday, de la O Levy said. Several days without powerfulness person already taken a large toll, leaving group without moving h2o systems (since h2o pumps request electricity) aliases refrigeration to support nutrient from rotting.

Even earlier past week’s crisis, Cuba was already teetering connected an power situation pinch an aging powerfulness grid and looming substance shortages. Officials opportunity they’re moving to get micro powerfulness grid systems moving to reconstruct energy region by region until “greater stability” tin beryllium achieved.

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