In the midst of rumors and publications on the networks about significant damage to a Contramaestre dam that would put the population of that municipality of Santiago de CubaCuban authorities assured this Friday that there is “no type of danger.”
Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), assured that the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes dam “maintains its technical parameters throughout its infrastructure,” while there is “permanent surveillance” over it.
“Many of their workers were affected by the hurricane and, however, they are in place carrying out their assigned task,” said the official during a visit to the reservoir with directors of the Santiago Hydraulic Development Company.
Regarding the landslides at the site reported on the networks, as a result of the impact of Hurricane Melissa, Rodríguez and other authorities explained that they occurred in the vegetal layer and did not compromise the structure of the dam.
They also reported that, after the evaluation carried out by INRH specialists, a brigade would work on the site to restore what was damaged.
“The population can rest assured,” said Rodríguez Rodríguez in a video shared by the director of the Santiago company in the sector and other users of social networks.
Melissa and the eastern preys
The president of the INRH reiterated that the Contramaestre dam is operating normally and said that it is currently pouring through its spillways.
Furthermore, he pointed out that, in general terms, the reservoirs in eastern Cuba only suffered “small damages” as a result of the hurricane and that these “in no case threaten their stability.”
He also asserted that these problems “will be resolved very quickly.”
Before his statements, publications had circulated strongly on the networks that spoke of several landslides in the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, which would represent a serious danger for Contramaestre and in the face of which – according to these publications – the authorities were not taking the necessary emergency measures.
Hurricane Melissa, which left significant damage in its wake in the eastern region, also represented a significant injection of water for the area’s dams, many of which were depressed due to a prolonged drought.
However, despite this positive impact, the meteorological phenomenon also hit the hydraulic and electrical infrastructure – necessary for pumping the liquid -, which has aggravated the already very deficient water supply in Santiago de Cuba and other territories.
