Cuba’s power grid collapses again as hurricane intensifies woes

• Published On: 21 October 2024 at 12:12

On Sunday, Cuba's electrical infrastructure failed for the fourth time in 48 hours.

This latest outage occurred as a hurricane made landfall, worsening the island's problems and potential additional damage to its ageing infrastructure, according to Reuters.

Earlier on Sunday, officials reported progress in restoring electricity following multiple false starts. However, millions of homes were without power for more than two days following the initial grid breakdown.

"Restoration work began immediately," the country's energy and mining ministry announced on X.

Hurricane Oscar made landfall on the Caribbean island on Sunday, bringing strong winds, a severe storm surge, and torrential rain to eastern Cuba.

The storm poses a substantial threat to the government's efforts to restore power and may hinder recovery operations following the recent grid collapses.

Cuba's meteorological survey warned of "an extremely dangerous situation" in eastern Cuba, while the US National Hurricane Centre estimated winds of 75 mph (120 kph) as the storm moved over the island.

"On the forecast track, the centre of Oscar is expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba tonight and Monday, then emerge off the northern coast of Cuba late Monday and cross the central Bahamas on Tuesday," the National Hurricane Centre reported.

Cuba's Communist-run government has cancelled school until Wednesday, a nearly unprecedented measure in response to Hurricane Oscar and the ongoing energy crisis.

Officials have suggested that only essential personnel should report for work on Monday.

The government's efforts to restore power to people, who are already facing severe food, medical, and gasoline shortages, have been hampered by frequent grid failures.

The difficulties encountered in the first 48 hours underline the complexities of the restoration efforts and the vulnerable health of the country's electrical grid.

Just before the latest breakdown on Sunday, Cuba restored power to 160,000 customers in Havana, giving people a momentary ray of hope.On Sunday, Cuba's electrical infrastructure failed for the fourth time in 48 hours.