Brigades of linemen (electrician technicians) fixing laying and fallen poles on the ground, people cleaning the streets and some private businesses operating with generators illustrate this Friday Cuba’s attempts to recover, after two days of the impact of Hurricane Rafael.

There are still roads cut, streets crossed by fallen trees, debris and garbage accumulating, traffic lights turned off and many people on the streets collecting part of the damage caused by the cyclone that hit the west of the country with winds of up to 186 kilometers per hour and rains of up to 195 millimeters (or liters per square meter).

Many areas in the west of the country – including the capital – continue without electricity since Wednesday, despite the fact that the National Electric System (SEN) managed to unify again on Friday morning after almost 48 hours of fracturing in subsystems after the second total blackout in three weeks.

Cuba is recovering electricity after the passage of Hurricane Rafael

The SEN synchronization means that the whole country is already interconnected in a single network, but not all Cubans have electricity because in many places the poles, cables and transformers affected by the cyclone have not yet been repaired.

In Havana, with at least 495 fallen electric poles, only 17% of its almost two million inhabitants currently have electricity, according to official data.

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In addition, great effects persist in the provinces of Mayabeque, Artemisa and Pinar del Río. These last two provinces are totally disconnected from the SEN.

In the rest of the country, blackouts are also occurring, but due to the SEN’s inability to produce enough electricity to meet demand, a chronic and growing problem in Cuba due to the frequent breakdowns of old power plants and the fuel deficit, the result of the lack of foreign currency to import it.

Resumption of classes and public transport

Rafael is the second hurricane to make landfall in Cuba in 2024. The previous one was Oscar, who hit the northeastern end of the island for 24 hours between October 20 and 21, leaving eight dead, 12,000 damaged homes and 13,000 hectares of crops affected.

The authorities do not report missing or deceased for the moment due to Rafael, who have recognized “strong damage” in homes, infrastructure and crops of Artemisa, Mayabeque and Havana, although without providing specific figures for the moment.

They also reported that the 250,000 evacuated throughout the country by Rafael, most of them in Havana, are returning to their homes as conditions improve.

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As part of the recovery, the Minister of Education, Naima Trujillo, assured that next Monday the school year will resume “in most institutions”, after its suspension prior to Rafael’s impact. In the west there are many schools with affected.

In Havana, the local transport company reported on the “gradual restoration” of service in the main arteries, but said that the maritime transport of passengers through the capital’s bay remains suspended.

Damage to housing and agriculture

Rafael made landfall in Cuba as a hurricane of great intensity on Wednesday afternoon and crossed the island from south to north for more than two hours.

In Artemisa, where Rafael made landfall on Wednesday afternoon as a category three hurricane, the houses affected total 2,825, according to the official newspaper Granma, which presented a meeting of the National Defense Council headed by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Artesa authorities detailed that there is damage to 15,000 hectares of banana, cassava, bean and rice crops; and 40 schools suffered damage. In Mayabeque they counted 441 homes with “significant damage” and reported damage to agriculture as in Artemisa. In Havana they reported more than 461 collapses between total and partial.

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The most critical situation in the Cuban capital, in addition to the 461 total and partial collapses, is concentrated in the fallen trees, which have torn off electrical and telephone cables, reported the local governor, Yanet Hernández.