Cuba left reeling after Category 3 hurricane ravages island and knocks out power grid

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba was left reeling Thursday after a fierce Category 3 hurricane ripped across the island, destroying hundreds of homes, knocking out the country’s power grid and damaging other infrastructure.

No fatalities were immediately reported in Cuba, and Hurricane Rafael had weakened to a Category 2 storm as it swirled across the gulf toward Mexico where heavy rains were expected in the coming days.

Rafael crossed a western portion of Cuba on Wednesday evening about 75 kilometers (45 miles) west of Havana, where José Ignacio Dimas returned home from his night shift as a security guard to find his apartment building in the historic center of the city had collapsed.

“The entire front wall of the building fell,” José Ignacio Dimas said in a tight voice as he scanned the damage early Thursday. Like many buildings in the capital, it was aging and lacked maintenance.

More than 461 homes collapsed because of the hurricane, Cuban authorities said. More than 283,000 people from across the country had been evacuated from their homes, 98,300 of which were in Havana, according to authorities.

Streets across the western swath of the country were riddled with utility poles, wires and trees.

In Havana, residents picked up what debris they could, but huge trees and fallen telephone lines lined the ground, blocking traffic. Concerned about food going bad due to blackouts, a group of residents opened an informal soup kitchen.

"If we don’t work together as neighbors, nobody does it,” said Ariel Calvo, who was helping to shovel debris Thursday morning.

Lázaro Guerra, electricity director for the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said power had been partially restored in the island’s western region and that generation units were powering back up. But he warned that restoring power would be slow-going as crews took safety precautions.

On Thursday morning, the hurricane was located about 260 miles (420 kilometers) west-northwest of Havana. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph).

Earlier in the week, Rafael brushed past Jamaica and battered the Cayman Islands, downing trees and power lines and unleashing heavy flooding in some areas.

Authorities in Jamaica are searching for a couple last seen inside a car that was swept away by floodwaters, police told Radio Jamaica News.

Thousands of customers in Jamaica and Little Cayman remained without power as crews worked to restore electricity after the storm.

Rafael was expected to keep weakening as it spins over open waters and heads toward northern Mexico, although the hurricane center warned there was “above average uncertainty” in the storm's future track.

Meanwhile, many Cubans were left picking up the pieces from Wednesday night, after a rocky few weeks in the Caribbean nation. In October, the island was hit by a one-two punch. First, it was hit by island-wide blackouts stretching on for days, a product of the island’s energy crisis. Shortly after, it was slapped by powerful hurricane that struck the eastern part of the island and killed at least six people.

The disasters have stoked discontent already simmering in Cuba amid an ongoing economic crisis, which has pushed many to migrate from Cuba.

Classes and public transport were suspended on parts of the island and authorities canceled flights in and out of Havana and Varadero. Thousands of people in the west of the island had been evacuated as a preventative measure.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Children wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents cycle past homes damaged when Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Debris from a building damaged by the passage of Hurricane Rafael covers the street in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

Residents charge their devices after Hurricane Rafael caused partial outages throughout Havana, Cuba Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

A man pushes his pig back home after taking it to higher ground after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A fallen palm tree is held by the power lines it brought down after Hurricane Rafael passed through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

Residents wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A youth plays in a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Madeleine Mur carries her dog through a flooded street after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents ride through a flooded street on a horse-drawn cart after Hurricane Rafael passed through Batano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Children wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man makes his way through trees brought down by Hurricane Rafael along the road leading to San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People drive along a road littered with fallen power lines after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Batabano, Cuba, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Waves break on the beach during the passing of Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People at a bus stop shield themselves with cardboard amid wind and rain during the passage of Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man walks through the wind and rain brought by Hurricane Rafael in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A Cuban flag shredded by the winds of Hurricane Rafael flies above the statue of General Calixto Garcia in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ticketed fans in Georgia and Notre Dame gear packed a plaza adjacent to the Superdome, enjoyed music under clear skies — and under the watch of snipers on rooftops — before filtering into the stadium for Thursday afternoon's College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.

“It was a lot of fun. It felt safe, “said Shannon Horsey, a Georgia fan in her 40s who lives in Austin, Texas. ”Coming in they searched by bag thoroughly. So I felt like, OK, they're really paying attention."

She was in New Orleans with her husband, Joe, a 48-year-old Georgia graduate, and their teenage children, Jack and Zoe.

They extended their stay after the game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night, was postponed because of an attack in which a man drove a pickup truck into crowds in the French Quarter, killing 14 New Year’s revelers before police killed the attacker in a shootout. Dozens more were injured.

“We can see the presence up on the rooftop," Horsey said, pointing at a sniper above Champions Square. "So, I kind of felt like this is probably one of the safest places to be in the city.”

Joe Horsey found the pregame crowd larger than he expected but, also found the "energy lower than a normal football game.”

“You could sense the musicians trying to get people riled up. People are kind of going through the paces, a little bit in shock, but trying to make the best out of the day,” he said.

It also seemed to Horsey that opposing fans were being a little more polite to one another than at a typical game.

“SEC football can get nasty on game day and can get a little raucous," he said. "But there's a little different sense of civility and that there's bigger things than football.”

Flags were at half-staff outside nearby government buildings in memory of those killed in the attack, which has been labeled by authorities an act of terrorism.

The attack occurred on Bourbon Street, which runs through the heart of the French Quarter and is famously lined with bars, restaurants and clubs, near the corner of Canal Street, a main downtown artery.

The crime scene, which was gradually being cleared so it could be reopened to the public on Thursday afternoon, is about a mile’s walk from the Superdome.

Security was ramped up in and around the stadium.

Police blocked regular traffic from passing by the main Superdome entrance on Poydras Street, an eight-lane downtown artery.

A helicopter circled overhead.

Numerous security officers around the 70,000-seat stadium were handling dogs trained to sniff for explosive devices. They encircled cars entering the Superdome parking garage and in some cases sniffed bags and backpacks.

The game, originally scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CST on Wednesday, was pushed back to 3 p.m. Thursday, with the winner advancing to the Jan. 9 Orange Bowl against Fiesta Bowl winner Penn State. It was the first time the Sugar Bowl had been postponed in its 91-year history (although it had been relocated at the end of the 2005 season because of Hurricane Katrina).

Mark Oldani, a 58-year-old Nashville resident and 1988 graduate of Notre Dame, took a group photo for a gathering of Georgia fans in from of the Superdome.

The crowd was “friendly, nobody yelling back and forth at each other,” he said. “I think everybody's coming in hoping for a good game and wanting to make the most of a really difficult situation.”

Before the singing of the national anthem, a moment of silence, lasting close to half a minute, was held.

While many traveling fans extended their stay to attend the game, the postponement meant some would not be able to attend because of travel plans that were deemed too expensive or logistically difficult to change.

Numerous tickets were listed for resale online at prices of $30 or less, some as low as $23.

Postponing the game “was absolutely the right call,” said Lisa Borrelli, a 34-year-old Philadelphia resident who came to New Orleans with her fiancé, a 2011 Notre Dame graduate, but could not stay for the game.

She said they paid more than $250 per ticket and weren't sure if they'd bother listing them for resale because prices were so low.

“Of course we’re disappointed to miss it and to lose so much money on it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter,” Borrelli said. “We’re fortunate enough that we’ll be fine.”

The Superdome also is scheduled to host the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.

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An aerial overall exterior general view of Caesars Superdome, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check backpacks before entering the Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check vehicles as they enter the Superdome parking garage ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security with bomb sniffing dogs patrol the area around the Superdome ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Security and bomb sniffing dogs check vehicles as they enter the Superdome parking garage ahead of the Sugar Bowl NCAA College Football Playoff game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)