With a message full of slogans and a poor quality photo of Jiguaní, Miguel Díaz-Canel delegated all responsibility for the notable floods that have been affecting the eastern part of Cuba for several days. “Extreme care” was the only instruction from the president, whose administration has received a barrage of criticism for spending more time mediating the conflict in Colombia and downplaying the weather situation, which has already claimed the life of a Cuban from 60 years in Granma.
The official press has provided a coverage timid to floods and has privileged the least negative data: with the rains, the island’s dams have filled up. Only the local media, information on social networks and reports from meteorological institutions allow us to gauge the seriousness of the matter.
The figures do not lie. In the town of Las Mercedes, in Granma, a level of rainfall of 360 millimeters (mm) was recorded at the end of this Friday, the highest so far. Other municipalities in the province also broke their records: 294.9 mm in Ciudad Escolar, 280.3 mm in Charco Redondo, 259.8 mm in Jiguaní – where the only victim registered so far died from drowning.
In Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, the amount was 248 mm, while in Vertientes, Camagüey, 237 mm fell. The rains were felt even in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, where the record was 227 mm.
The precariousness of the evacuations has been another of the characteristics of the situation. The Photographs of a pregnant woman transferred “by sea” from Campechuela to Manzanillo, where she required medical attention, have been alarming: the woman boards a small boat, together with other people carrying mattresses, food and electrical appliances, trying to leave the place. They are “exceptional conditions,” the official reporter who published the images apologized.
In addition, he warned that the situation in Camagüey would reach significant levels of rainfall, as well as “isolated localities” in Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spíritus.
This Friday, the Institute of Meteorology published a special notice – the third since the rains began – anticipating that there would be affectations in the central zone as well as the eastern one. In addition, he warned that the situation in Camagüey would reach significant levels of rainfall, as well as “isolated localities” in Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spíritus.
“This hydrometeorological situation continues to be related to the persistence of a trough in the middle and upper levels of the troposphere over the Gulf of Mexico, which maintains a humid flow from the southwest over the entire country, in combination with atmospheric instability and local factors” , indicated.
The authorities of Granma, the most affected province, promised “not to minimize any risk” and described the outlook as “still complex.” They assured that they could not generate “false expectations”, since the resources are few. The most alarming, they recognized, are the communities isolated by the overflow of the rivers and the material damage: 10,000 houses affected, 65 total collapses and 214 partial ones, only in that province.
The independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada, who has reported the floods in Camagüey, reported that several districts of the provincial capital –La Norma, José Martí and Salomé– are in a state of serious damage.
Meanwhile, on social networks, thousands of Cubans have pointed out the personal dimension of the tragedy: blackouts, loss of belongings, impossibility of obtaining food and maximum uncertainty about how and when it will be possible to return to normality.
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