Hurricane Oscar hits Cuba amid worsening power crisis
HAVANA – Hurricane Oscar is set to hit Cuba on Sunday, further affecting the population after a second night without electricity due to a massive power outage.
With winds of 130 km/h, Oscar has made landfall on Great Inagua Island in The Bahamas and is expected to reach Guantanamo or Holguin in Cuba as a hurricane on Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Meanwhile, Cuba’s efforts to restore power to the island were thwarted for a third time late Saturday, leaving millions without electricity.
Cuba’s national electrical grid first crashed around midday on Friday after the island’s largest power plant shut down. The grid collapsed again on Saturday morning, state-run media reported.
By early evening, authorities reported some progress restoring power before announcing the grid had once again collapsed.
For the past three months, Cubans have been suffering from frequent power outages, with a national energy deficit of 30%. By Thursday, this deficit had reached 50%.
In recent weeks, power cuts in several provinces have lasted for 10 to 20 hours a day.
Cuban government blames the U.S. trade embargo and sanctions imposed by then-President Donald Trump for the ongoing difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil-fired plants.
Electricity in Cuba is generated by eight ageing thermoelectric plants, many of which are either malfunctioning or under maintenance, along with several floating power plants rented from Turkish companies and diesel generators.
