Only 2% of Artemisa has electricity following the passage of Hurricane Rafael

Six days after Hurricane Rafael passed through the western region of Cuba, only 2% of the Artemisa province has electricity.

According to a report on Monday at the National Defense Council of Civil Defense, the electrical situation remains "very complex" despite the deployment of teams from other areas to support repair efforts.

The phenomenon left hundreds of utility poles on the ground. Additionally, its strong winds destroyed several high-tension towers of 220,000 and 110,000 volts on the Havana-Artemisa highway, leaving them in heaps of twisted metal.

State media shared photos of the magnitude of the disaster on Facebook.

The people of Artemisa have been without electricity for a week, as the widespread blackout began on Wednesday at 2:48 p.m., which the Electric Union attributed to strong winds from the hurricane, even though it had not yet reached Cuba.

Artemisa was the province most affected by Rafael, which caused severe damage to homes, crops, and infrastructure.

Regarding telecommunications in the province, the fixed network is at 61.2%, while the mobile network is only at 34.4%.

Damage has been reported in 15,453 homes, although this is a preliminary figure and is likely to be higher.

On the other hand, agriculture was affected on 15,192 hectares of crops, of which only about 992 have recovered. Approximately 546 tons of food have been gathered.