Hurricane Rafael has left the entire island of Cuba in darkness, knocking out power across the country as authorities warn of ‘severe damages’ in the storm’s aftermath.
On Wednesday, the intense hurricane ripped off roofs, uprooted trees and downed a baseball stadium light tower as it crossed over western Cuba.
It made its way into Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday night after passing over Cuba and will track west over the southern Gulf through the weekend.
The storm is expected to continue its westward trajectory across the southern Gulf into the weekend. Before making landfall as a lesser storm early next week, the hurricane will remain in the Gulf for days.
As per the government officials, due to the storm the national electric system was collapsed causing a nationwide blackout.
“We had several trips of the load of the system in the western zone that caused oscillations in the frequency of the system and caused it to collapse completely,” Félix Estrada Rodríguez, the director of the national dispatch of the Electric Union, told state television.
The state media reported that following the blackout, the repearing was started, operations at two electrical plants were partially restored and parts of eastern and central Cuba had electricity back up by Thursday afternoon.
“Intensive work is being done in the western region to reconnect the damaged lines and fully recover the national electrical system,” Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, said on X.
