Cuban mother on the passage of Hurricane Oscar: "One is left with a trauma from what they experienced that day."

The floods caused by Hurricane Oscar have left a devastating landscape in several municipalities of the Cuban province of Guantánamo, a situation described by a mother as a trauma that is hard to forget.

“Thank you to those who have written to me and to those who have provided food for my son. Although this was a sad and painful experience, leaving a trauma from what I lived that day, I thank God that we are a united community that always helps each other,” wrote mother Daireli Ribero Matos in the Facebook group “Revolico San Antonio del Sur.”

Previously, Daireli, a resident of that municipality, one of the most affected by the storm and where seven fatalities have been officially reported, plus one in Imías, shared the ruins of her home in a Facebook post where she stated, “It is sad what has happened to us; some have lost their lives and others have lost everything.”

Oscar left entire communities flooded, with water reaching up to one meter in some areas. Homes suffered partial or total damage, while many families lost both belongings and appliances due to the rapid rise of rivers and streams, such as the Sabanalamar and Los Ciguatos.

The alarm over the arrival of this cyclone was exacerbated by a widespread blackout that left large areas of Cuba without electricity for several days.

This disruption affected communication and made evacuation and preparation efforts more difficult before the hurricane's arrival. Many families were left without access to weather information and unable to charge mobile devices to receive alerts or contact their loved ones.

Recently, a Cuban survivor of the floods in San Antonio del Sur shared that she clung to a window to avoid being swept away by the rising waters.

Ramona, as the woman is named, explained that as the water level rose, she held onto the upper planks of the window "until the water reached that point."