Storm Oscar hits Cuba as island grapples with blackout

Electricity has been restored to half of Havana, the Cuban capital's power company has reported, four days after the start of a nationwide blackout that authorities have struggled to address.

Power went out for the island's 10 million people on Friday after the collapse of the nation's largest power plant crippled the grid.

The government said that electricity is expected to be restored to most of the country by the end of today.

"Around 50% of clients" now have power, Havana's electricity company said in a report published by state-run news portal Cubadebate.

Amid concerns of instability in a country already battling sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water, President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned yesterday that his government would not tolerate attempts to "disturb public order."

In July 2021, blackouts sparked an unprecedented outpouring of public anger, with thousands of Cubans taking to the street and chanting slogans including "Freedom" and "We are hungry".

Cuba was still bathed in darkness yesterday when Hurricane Oscar made landfall in its eastern part at 5.50 pm local time (21.50 GMT) as a Category 1 storm.

It weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland, the US National Hurricane Center said, whipping up waves up to 13 feet high along the eastern coast.

Roofs and the walls of houses were damaged, and electricity poles and trees felled, state television reported.

The power grid failed in a chain reaction on Friday due to the unexpected shutdown of the biggest of the island's eight coal-fired power plants, according to the head of electricity supply at the energy ministry, Lazaro Guerra.

Power was briefly restored yesterday to a few hundred thousand inhabitants before the grid failed again, according to the national electric utility UNE.

Authorities have suspended classes and business activities until Wednesday, with only hospitals and essential services remaining operational.

To bolster its grid, Cuba has leased seven floating power plants from Turkish companies and also added many small diesel-powered generators

Mr Diaz-Canel blamed the situation on Cuba's difficulties in acquiring fuel for its power plants, which he attributed to the tightening, during Donald Trump's presidency, of a six-decade-long US trade embargo.

But the island is in the throes of a broader economic malaise - the worst economic crisis, according to experts, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which heavily subsidised Cuba and stationed troops there as vital element of its Cold War strategy against the United States.

"Cubans are tired of so much... There's no life here, (people) can't take it anymore," said Serguei Castillo, a 68-year-old bricklayer.