Not only blackout. The hurricane severely devastated the island

Rafael reached Cuba on the night from Wednesday to Thursday with wind gusts reaching speeds of up to 185 kilometers per hour. The hurricane left considerable devastation in its wake. Hundreds of houses on the island have been damaged, the administration of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Friday. No fatalities were reported.

According to the preliminary assessment of the Cuban civil defense, as a result of strong winds in the capital Havana, over 400 residential buildings were devastated. Major material damage also occurs in other areas of the island.

The public television station Television Cubana reported that by Friday evening the greatest damage was reported in the western municipalities of Bauta, Mariel, Artemisa, Alquizar, Caimito, Guanajay, as well as in Guira de Melena.

UNE, the company responsible for electricity supplies in Cuba, confirmed that the natural disaster led to a failure of the energy system in most of the island's provinces. On Friday, work was underway to repair damaged power grids – electricity was restored to part of the island.

Long hours of power outages are also accompanied by paralysis of water supplies, as well as chaos in the transport of basic goods. In several cities in Cuba, difficulties are caused by flooded streets and objects lying on the roads knocked over by strong winds.

The disaster also caused serious damage to agriculture. According to preliminary calculations of the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture, in the province of Artemisa, where the greatest damage was recorded, over 15,000 buildings were devastated. hectares of crops, mainly banana plantations.

On Saturday, Rafael, now referred to as storm tropical, was located in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 400 km from the city of Progreso in Mexico. It was accompanied by wind speeds reaching 110 km/h.