HAVANA (AP) — Tropical Storm Oscar dumped heavy rain across eastern Cuba on Monday after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on the island already beleaguered by a massive power outage.
Its maximum sustained winds blew at 45 mph (75 kph) on Monday as Oscar moved west at 2 mph (4 kph). The storm was located about 5 miles (10 kilometers) east of Guantánamo, Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Up to 14 inches (36 centimeters) of rain were forecast across eastern Cuba, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters).
"The main concern is just very heavy rainfall that’s occurring over portions of eastern Cuba right now that are likely producing significant flooding and even potentially some mudslides in that area,” said Philippe Papin, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.
Oscar made landfall in the eastern province of Guantanamo, near the city of Baracoa, on Sunday evening with winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The storm had also made landfall on Saturday on Great Inagua in the Bahamas, where residents were evacuated after their homes were damaged.
Rain and flooding in low-lying areas were reported in Cuba's eastern provinces. Cuban media said 2-meter (6.5-feet) swells were hitting the coast and that roofs and walls in Baracoa had been damaged.
The storm is expected to emerge off Cuba's northern coast late Monday and move near the southeastern and central Bahamas on Tuesday, U.S. forecasters said.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for the north coast of the Cuban provinces of Las Tunas, Holguin, and Guantanamo to Punta Maisi; for the south coast of Guantánamo province; and for the southeastern Bahamas. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the north coast of Camaguey province and the central Bahamas.
Cuba suffered an islandwide power blackout Friday. Some electrical service was restored Saturday, but most residents remain without power. The country's energy minister expressed hope the grid could be restored Monday or Tuesday.
AP reporter Julie Walker in New York contributed.
Residents walk down a street using a phone flashlight during a power outage following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken at 6:40pm ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, shows Hurricane Oscar. (NOAA via AP)
HAVANA (AP) — Cubans took to the streets in protest as widespread blackouts stretched into their fourth day, their concerns heightened as Hurricane Oscar crossed the island’s eastern coast with winds and heavy rain.
In Santo Suárez, part of a populous neighborhood in southwestern Havana, people went into the streets banging pots and pans in protest Sunday night.
“We haven’t had electricity for three nights, and our food is rotting. Four days without electricity is an abuse to the children,” resident Mary Karla, a mother of three children, told The Associated Press. She didn't give her surname.
The protesters, who say they have no water either, blocked the street with garbage.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a news conference he hopes the electricity grid will be restored on Monday or Tuesday morning.
But he said that Oscar, which made landfall on the eastern coast Sunday evening, will bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba's recovery since it will touch a “region of strong (electricity) generation.” Key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba, are located in the area.
Oscar later weakened to a tropical storm but its effects were forecast to linger in the island through Monday.
Some neighborhoods had electricity restored in Cuba’s capital, where 2 million people live, but most of Havana remained dark. The impact of the blackout goes beyond lighting, as services like water supply also depend on electricity to run pumps.
People resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before the food went bad in refrigerators.
In tears, Ylenis de la Caridad Napoles, mother of a 7-year-old girl, says she is reaching a point of “desperation.”
The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday, which caused the collapse of the island's whole system, was just the latest in a series of problems with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated to different regions at different times of the day. The status of Cuba's other power plants was unclear.
People lined up for hours on Sunday to buy bread in the few bakeries that could reopen.
Some Cubans like Rosa Rodríguez have been without electricity for four days.
“We have millions of problems, and none of them are solved,” said Rodríguez. “We must come to get bread, because the local bakery is closed, and they bring it from somewhere else.”
The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst since Hurricane Ian hit the island as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them. This year, some homes have spent up to eight hours a day without electricity.
Cuba’s government had said Saturday that some electricity had been restored. But the 500 megawatts of energy in the island’s electricity grid, far short of the usual 3 gigawatts it needs, had quickly decreased to 370 megawatts.
Even in a country that is used to outages as part of a deepening economic crisis, Friday’s collapse was massive.
The Cuban government has announced emergency measures to slash electricity demand, including suspending school and university classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling nonessential services.
Local authorities said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
Cuba's energy minister said the country's grid would be in better shape if there had not been two more partial blackouts as authorities tried to reconnect on Saturday. De la O Levy also said Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia, among other nations, had offered to help.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time at the malecon during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A resident looks at his cell phone on the street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents protest by banging pots and pans in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
