Hurricane Oscar leaves six dead in Cuba: president

HAVANA – Hurricane Oscar left six people dead after hitting Cuba over the weekend during a major power blackout, President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced on Monday.
The storm caused severe damage in the eastern province of Guantanamo, he said in televised remarks.
It weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland, the US National Hurricane Center said, whipping up waves up to four metres high along the eastern coast.
Heavy rainfall was expected to bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding along with mudslides,” the NHC warned on Monday.
Meanwhile, electricity has been restored to almost 90 percent of Havana, but several provinces remained without power four days after the start of a nationwide blackout.
By Monday afternoon, around 89 percent of customers in Havana — home to some two million people — had power again, the capital’s electricity company said in a report published by state-run news portal Cubadebate.
With concerns of instability rising in a country already battling sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water, President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned Sunday 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.”
Residents voiced frustration at the latest power outage, which crippled businesses and caused food in fridges to go bad.