Hurricane Rafael causes flooding in the town of Matanzas

Hurricane Rafael caused severe flooding in Alacranes, a town in Matanzas that is part of the Unión de Reyes municipality.

Located in the southwest corner of the province, in the southern plains of Havana-Matanzas, the town was one of the most affected by the heavy rains.

According to the station Radio Unión Matanzas, residents of Libertad Street report that the flooding began this Thursday at 1:00 AM.

Alacranes is one of the towns most affected by the hurricane, along with the communities of Las Cañas, Valladares, and El Estante.

In Unión de Reyes, 7 out of the 11 designated evacuation centers remain open to protect individuals and families with homes vulnerable to strong winds and heavy rain.

The weather station in the municipality recorded a total of 190 mm of water in the past 24 hours, in an area that has 18 micro-dams.

The strongest wind gust recorded was 64 km/h, noted at 3:05 PM.

A total of 3,453 people were evacuated in the municipality, including 162 in evacuation centers and 3,314 in the homes of family and friends.

Alacranes is adjacent to the Zapata Swamp, one of the areas where conditions began to deteriorate rapidly on Wednesday morning.

The southern part of the Matanzas province, along with Isla de la Juventud and Cayo Largo del Sur, began to experience the impact of hurricane-force winds accompanied by rain from early hours before the hurricane reached Cuba.