Widespread power outage after Hurricane Ian in Cuba: There is currently no electricity service in the country
Sylvie Claire / September 28, 2022
Cuba was plunged into darkness Tuesday night due to a widespread power outage caused by damage to its electricity network caused by Hurricane Ian, announced the state electricity company Union Eléctrica.
The country is "without electrical service," the company tweeted, explaining this national blackout by the passage of the category 3 hurricane that ravaged the west of the island, without causing casualties, before heading to Florida.
"There is currently no electricity service anywhere in the country," added Lázaro Guerra, technical director of Union Eléctrica, on Cuban television.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines said it was an "exceptional situation" that required "great precision" to resolve and that electricity service would be restored gradually.
Only the few people with gasoline-powered generators at home or in the office had access to power in this country of 11.2 million people.
While the effects of the hurricane were still being felt on the coast, at night, residents walked the streets using their cell phones as a guide, and some homes were lit by candles or flashlights.
Ian hit Pinar del Rio, the westernmost province of the island, hard in the early hours of the morning, causing great material damage there, as well as in the neighboring cities of Artemisa and Havana, where 2.1 million people live.