Hurricane Rafael has knocked out Cuba’s electric service after hitting the island Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, blowing down trees and utility towers in an island nation still reeling from earlier storms and recent power failures.
In its latest report Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm is 320 kilometers west-northwest of Havana and it had weakened to a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of about 155 km per hour. The storm is still expected to continue bringing heavy rains to the island Thursday, raising the threat of mudslides at higher elevations.
The hurricane center said the storm made landfall in Cuba’s western Artemisa province Wednesday afternoon. More than 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Artemisa and neighboring Pinar del Rio province.
State newspaper Granma said airports in the western part of the country, including in Havana and the resort town of Varadero, had been temporarily closed because of the storm. By Thursday morning, the newspaper reported power was being restored in the central and eastern parts of the country.
Rafael was the latest blow to the communist-run country's already precarious electrical grid, which just two weeks ago collapsed multiple times, leaving many in the country without power for days.
The Energy and Mines Ministry said it had already begun work to reconnect the national grid late Wednesday but warned that the process would be slower in western parts of the island, which were hardest hit by the storm.
Rafael had knocked out power and dumped heavy rain on the Cayman Islands and Jamaica earlier in the week.
Forecasters said Rafael is expected to move to the west later Thursday through the weekend. They said the storm should remain a hurricane for the next couple of days as it moves over the southern Gulf of Mexico and then weaken to a tropical storm by Saturday.
No new watches or warnings have been posted for populated areas.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
