Havana remains in the dark: a large part of the city is without electricity following Hurricane Rafael

Although Hurricane Rafael has now left Cuba, Havana remains in the dark, with a large part of the city still without electricity.

A note issued by the Electric Company this morning details that out of the 337 primary distribution circuits being addressed, 305 have been surveyed, providing service to 143,468 customers across 50 circuits.

Eight hospital circuits and two water supply circuits are now operational. "We are at 15.1% recovery," the message states.

On the other hand, 90 fallen poles have been detected, of which 30 belong to the Plaza and Cerro municipalities.

On Thursday night, a microsystem was successfully activated in the western region, allowing services to be provided in areas such as Cotorro, San Miguel del Padrón, Guanabacoa, Habana del Este, Regla, Boyeros, Luyanó, La Habana Vieja, and Arroyo Naranjo. Tests were also being conducted in the Camilo Cienfuegos neighborhood and Villa Panamericana in Habana del Este.

Six contingents from Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Camagüey, Cienfuegos, and Sancti Spíritus are assisting with the recovery efforts, but much of the city still has fallen trees, downed poles and cables, and scattered debris.

The situation is unsustainable for the population, which has been without electricity for two days and watches helplessly as food spoils in the midst of the high temperatures.

Lawyer Manuel Viera, who has thousands of followers on Facebook for his criticisms of the regime, stated that the hurricane has come at the perfect time for the National Electroenergy System (SEN), and he recalled that on Tuesday afternoon, when the first winds were just beginning to blow, the system collapsed.

“We have been without electricity for 48 hours now, and the vast majority of Havana residents are still in the dark, with no signs of progress. Two days after the hurricane, tree branches litter the streets, and there’s no one collecting anything. Along with the loss of electricity, we are cut off from communication, and all our devices are now dead. Right now, we are an uninformed community, cut off from our families,” he said.

"Yes, the winds and rain from Rafael were harsh, but the revolutionary hurricane that has followed is proving to be worse. Food is starting to spoil again. (...) Still, there’s always some idiot who comes out from his comfortable home with power to tell us that we need to muster strength against the hurricane!" he questioned.

Amid the crisis, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O, announced this Friday that the national electrical system is now synchronized.

"Work is being carried out in the western provinces on circuit interconnections, pole erection, and electrical wiring. Havana has begun receiving power and has 81 MW supplied," he detailed on his Twitter account.

Just 24 hours earlier, amid the chaos caused by the total collapse of the system, the Holguín Electric Company announced that it had successfully interconnected the circuits supplying electricity from Matanzas.

"A connected system has been established between Matanzas and Holguín, based fundamentally on the CTE Guiteras, Energás Varadero, Unit 5 of Nuevitas, and distributed generation," he revealed.

For its part, the Electric Union announced that it is working on "energizing the network in the western area, starting from the Energás Boca de Jaruco, to reach the floating power plants in Havana and the thermoelectric plant in Mariel."