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In light of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Melissa, residents of the town of La Isabelita, in Santiago de Cuba, have decided to remove the roofs from their homes to prevent the wind from tearing them off, in a gesture that reflects both desperation and foresight.
The testimony was shared this Tuesday on Facebook by the social communicator Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, who described the scene in the municipality of Songo La Maya as a mix of fear, ingenuity, and resignation.
"In La Isabelita, people remove the roofs before the wind tears them off," she wrote.
According to their publication, dozens of families have chosen to remove the zinc roofs and store them inside their homes or in safe spaces, hoping to reattach them once the hurricane has passed.
“There are no materials, no nails, nothing… If the wind takes it away, we have nothing to cover ourselves with,” recounted a neighbor quoted by Mayeta, who claims to have learned this practice since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The measure, in addition to being preventive, reflects the precarious situation faced by thousands of households in the eastern part of the country, where building or repairing a home is a real family challenge.
With fragile housing and scarce resources, many families prioritize preserving the few materials they have due to the lack of guarantees for reconstruction or subsequent state assistance.
In another post, the communicator warned about a dangerous and entrenched practice: placing stones atop lightweight roofs in the hope of preventing hurricane-force winds from blowing them away.
"Among the most common practices, some residents have chosen to place stones on the zinc roofs in an attempt to prevent the wind from blowing them away. However, this action poses a serious danger," he warned.
He also stated that with the intensity of the winds expected, which could exceed 290 kilometers per hour, "those stones can become deadly projectiles, putting at risk not only the residents of the houses themselves but also their neighbors and passersby."
Another common practice used in the east of Cuba to preserve the roofs of houses is the placement of sandbags, also with the hope that the strength of the winds will not lift the tiles.
While the hurricane Melissa advances over the Caribbean with winds nearing 300 kilometers per hour, Santiago de Cuba is under alert for possible heavy rains, landslides, and flooding.
Provincial authorities reported that about 250,000 people would be evacuated throughout the province, particularly in coastal and mountainous areas, in what constitutes the largest evacuation operation since 2012, when Sandy struck Santiago de Cuba.
For the residents of La Isabelita, however, "preventing" has become synonymous with surviving. Taking down the roof is not a weather strategy, but a way to protect what little remains standing.
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