UPDATES
Updated: December 6, 2024
Over the last month and a half, Cuba has suffered the ravages of natural events that have compounded an already difficult situation. In late September Hurricane Helene hammered the eastern part of the island, but its effects were felt throughout the country. Then in October, Hurricane Oscar struck northeastern Cuba. Cuba’s electrical grid collapsed, leaving the entire nation without electricity. Not long after that, Hurricane Rafael cut a path through western Cuba. While Cuba is slowly recovering, there are still significant numbers of Cubans without electricity. As if that were not enough, Cuba suffered a 6.8 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was 25 miles south of Bartolomé Masó, in the southeastern region of Cuba near Guantánamo, nearly 500 miles east of Havana. This has severely impeded the ability to fully restore electricity. Abroadia is closely monitoring the situation and is in daily contact with our colleagues and friends in Cuba. We will post updates here, so please check back regularly.
Breaking News
December 6:
cubanews@groups.io | GRANMA: The work to reestablish the National Electric System does not stop
December 5:
Reports from Cuba highlight how this last apagón (blackout) is different from and less severe than previous ones. NOTE: the article is written in Spanish.
¿Qué falló en la central termoeléctrica Antonio Guiteras? › Cuba › Granma - Órgano oficial del PCC
December 4
1:16 PM-Host families report that while the power went out in the early morning hours, it had been stored by late morning.
10:00 AM-In the early morning of December 4th, Cuba’s National Electric System (SEN) collapsed causing a massive blackout on the island. A trip at the Antonio Guiteras thermodynamic plant in Matanzas set the break. The Ministry of Energy and MInes has reported that work to reestablish the electrical grid started immediately and as of now electricity is available in 12 hospitals and 35 circuits in Havana, located in the municipalities of Guanabacoa, Boyeros, Habana del Este, Centro Habana, Cerro and Marianao.
http://www.cubadebate.cu/
November 26
The US State Department has upgraded Cuba from “Travel 3” to “Travel 2” status. Learn more via this link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/cuba-travel-advisory.html
November 20
Hurricane Sara bypassed Cuba and made its way into the Gulf of Mexico. It is now expected to make landfall on Florida’s western coast and the coastlines of Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana.
Havana has electricity and water and our colleagues in Viñales (Western region of Cuba) reported that the effects of Sara were minimal and no damage was sustained. They continue to have electricity and water. The University of Guantánamo (Eastern part of Cuba) reported that although they are still recovering from Hurricane Oscar, things are progressing. The cities of Granma and Santiago were more affected by the tremors resulting from the recent earthquake and are still recovering. Guantánamo has more reliable access to electricity and water than they did last week.
November 19
Havana is returning to normal although rural areas such as Artemisa continue to struggle to restore electricity. The easternmost part of Cuba experienced a number of small tremors ranging from 1.2 to 3.2 on the Richter scale. Havana and its surrounding area did not experience any after-effects from these small tremors.
November 15, 2024
Residents in Havana have full power and the only area still struggling with this is Artemisa, a town in a rural area 42 miles southwest of Havana. Engineers are working around the clock there to fully restore electricity.
November 13, 2024
10:15 pm-WhatsApp Message
11:57 am-Photos of Havana workers cleaning up the city after power has been restored.
11:27am-Phone call with Eludis G.P. in Vedado, Havana, Cuba:
-This morning we awoke to find that we had electricity which also returned our access to the water in our tanks, which is only accessible through a mechanized electric system. There is still more work to be done, but many people now have electricity and water.
10:10 am-Phone call conversation with A. Contreras in Centro Havana:
Fallen trees have to be cleared from the street. The situation is “ok”, it’s not good, it will never be that good so soon.”
98% of the city (Havana) has power
100% of phones are working
84% of people have electricity