At least six dead in floods in eastern Cuba

The heavy rains that in recent days caused floods, river overflows and other damage in several provinces, leaving a provisional death toll of six people in eastern Cuba

In Camagüey, the death of two people is reported, as in Granma; while in Las Tunas one person lost his life, and another in Santiago de Cuba. This is reflected in the official portal Cubadebate, which does not detail the identity of the deceased or the circumstances in which they lost their lives.

Of these, there are only details of the died due to the flooding of the Jiguaní River, in the province of Granma. The 60-year-old man from the town of the same name died from drowning, as indicated in social networks the NGO Caritas Cuba.

The Civil Defense in Camagüey identified this Monday the deceased in that province. In the town of Senate in the Minas Municipality, he died due to drowning Jose Vasquez Olivar, 56 years old. His body was found in the Máximo Dam. According to Agramonte Chain, was also deceased, for reasons that are still being investigated, Ramon Varona Leyva 67 years old belonging to the town of Haiti, in the municipality of Santa Cruz del Sur.

In addition to these fatalities, The rainfall left hundreds of homes damaged and thousands of people evacuated.

Until this Monday, in Camagüey, 550 damages to homes were reported, between total and partial. In Las Tunas, 76 communities were flooded and partial and total damage was reported in the same number of homes. In Holguín, 224 affected homes are reported, while in Santiago de Cuba, 152 damages to homes are recorded.

More than 3,400 people had to be evacuated due to the floods, although most of them have already returned to their homes, according to the official press. However, in Las Tunas more than a thousand homes were flooded and work is being done on their recovery. In Holguín more than 200 people remain protected.

The authorities count nearly 860 hectares (ha) of various crops damaged in Camagüey, where in addition 4,503 hectares of sugarcane have been damaged. In Las Tunas another 1,175 hectares of crops were affected and another thousand in Holguín. In Santiago de Cuba's agriculture, some 2,676 hectares of crops were damaged.

The damage caused by the rain storm extends to roads and highways, this last province being the most affected, where 40 settlements were cut off and the kilometers damaged are still being quantified. In Camagüey, 89 kilometers of roads are affected and in Holguín, access to four communities was affected.

In most of the towns where the electricity and telecommunications supply was cut off, it has already been restored. However, in Santiago de Cuba problems persist with the water supply, due to its turbidity.

“There were places where the situation was very complicated, especially because many of these floods (...) occurred in the early morning hours, and enormous evacuation efforts had to be made with boats and helicopters. We worked in a very timely manner to avoid more deaths than we have had,” said the president. Miguel Diaz-Canel by praising the efforts of the FAR and the MININT during the meeting in which the recovery efforts in the different territories were addressed.