MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba left powerless as Hurricane Ian passes by on its way to Florida

Ian left Cuba in the dark but it is not a direct threat to Honduras where rains have left over 12 people dead. Photo: EFE / Yander Zamora

Hurricane Ian left Cuba with no electricity Tuesday night as it caused major damage to the island's network on its way to Florida. Only the few who have access to gasoline-powered generators were spared from the full-scale blackout.

“There is no electric service in any area of the country at the moment,” Lázaro Guerra of the state-owned Unión Eléctrica said in a broadcast interview.

When the winds of the cyclone and the tidal waves were still felt along the coast, people in the streets walked around using the light of their telephones, while in some homes they lit up with candles or rechargeable battery lamps.

Ian, a category 3 hurricane, left a trail of destruction in the western provinces after hitting Pinar del Río, causing severe structural damage to the poles and cables that make up the country's electricity distribution network. It also Artemisa and Havana later in the day.

“The western zone has the additional complexity that there is a group of transmission lines that are out of service, due to the passage of Hurricane Ian,” Guerra said.

He added that the failure occurred in the link lines of the system from end to end of the island, derived from alterations in the load and electric frequency, causing a phenomenon of instability in the service.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines pointed out that this is an “exceptional condition” that “requires a lot of precision” to be solved.

Meanwhile, at least 25,000 people have been affected by heavy rains in Honduras, with over a dozen dead, according to the relief agencies. Of the 298 municipalities in Honduras, 123 have been affected, informed the Minister of the Interior, Tomás Vaquero. “The country's productivity is affected by the amount of rainfall the country receives,” the minister explained.

Vaquero said various task forces had been deployed to rehabilitate the affected areas including road closures, bridge damage, and flooding of crops. The Permanent Contingencies Commission (Copeco) extended for 48 hours a yellow and green alert for rains, while the Government declared an emergency on September 21.

Local authorities also pointed out that Hurricane Ian does not represent a direct threat to Honduras.