Hurricane Ian leaves Cuba in the dark

Cuba was still without power early Wednesday morning after Hurricane Ian wiped out its power grid and devastated some of the country’s largest tobacco farms when it hit the island as a Category 3 storm.

Authorities were working through the night to restore service to the country’s 11 million inhabitants, according to a statement from the Cuban Electrical Union. An initial power outage affected a million people in the western provinces, and later the entire network collapsed.

Cuba is going through an economic crisis and has suffered frequent blackouts in recent months. Ian hit the island as a powerful cyclone on the western edge, hitting Pinar del Río province, where much of the tobacco used for iconic Cuban cigars is grown.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated and others fled the area ahead of the storm’s arrival, causing flooding, inundating homes and toppling trees. Authorities were still assessing the damage, although no deaths had been reported as of Tuesday night.

Ian’s winds damaged one of Cuba’s most important tobacco plantations in La Robaina.

Hirochi Robaina, owner of the farm that bears his name and which his grandfather made known throughout the world, described the situation as “apocalyptic” and a “disaster”.

Robaina, who also owns the cigar-making firm Finca Robaina, shared photos on social media of shattered wooden and thatch roofs, greenhouses turned to rubble and overturned trucks.

The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, visited the affected region, according to state media.

“In the cyclone it was terrible, but we are here alive,” said Yusimí Palacios, a resident of Pinar del Río who asked the authorities for a roof and a mattress.

The authorities had set up 55 shelters and taken measures to protect crops, especially tobacco.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Cuba suffered “significant wind and storm surge aftermath” as the hurricane slammed into the island with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph). ).

Ian is forecast to gain strength over the Gulf of Mexico, reaching peak winds of 130 mph (209 km/h) as it approaches the southwestern coast of Florida, where 2.5 million people have been ordered to evacuate their homes. households.

As the center of the storm moved into the Gulf of Mexico, images of the destruction in Cuba began to appear. The authorities continued to assess the damage in the tobacco production area.

Local official television station TelePinar reported significant damage to the main hospital in the city of Pinar del Río and tweeted photos of broken roofs and felled trees. No deaths were reported.

Videos on social media showed downed power lines and blocked roads in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa and Mayabeque.

“The town is quite flooded,” small farmer Andy Muñoz, 37, who lives in Playa Cajío in the province of Artemisa, told the AP.

Many people lost their belongings there due to the storm surge, he added.

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