The Cuban stylist Verónica Dantés shared on social media this Wednesday her flooded beauty salon after the passage of Hurricane Melissa, and tearfully recounted the economic and emotional blow she is experiencing.
"How sad for me, my little heart feels heavy... I just ask my guardian angel that hopefully nothing has been broken... everything is so incredibly expensive," she wrote while sharing images of the flooded premises.
In subsequent messages, the Holguin native Dantés reported that the emergency caught her without basic services since the previous afternoon.
“There has been no electricity since 6 PM yesterday, there is no coverage to make any kind of calls… there is no internet to check on how the hurricane is progressing, there is no food, there is no water,” she stated while criticizing the official management of the crisis.
Her posts received supportive reactions from users who echoed the hardship many families faced during the storm.
Hours later, the entrepreneur reported that the drainage outlets within the property “absorbed all the water” and announced that the cleaning process had begun to leave “everything polished,” a promise she accompanied with the intention of sharing new photos of the results.
"I already feel much more relaxed," she assured, showing some emotional recovery as she assessed the damage.
The incident occurred on a day still marked by dangerous conditions associated with Melissa in the eastern part of the country. At 11:00 a.m., the center of the cyclone —still a category 2— was located about 35 kilometers north of Punta Lucrecia (Holguín), with sustained winds of 155 km/h and moving northeast at 22 km/h.
Although the system was beginning to move away, it maintained areas of showers and rain over the region, along with strong waves on the northern coast, including Gibara.
Authorities warned of significant surf along the Holguín coastline, with wave heights ranging from 4 to 6 meters and peaks of up to 7 meters in parts of northern Holguín and Las Tunas, leading to moderate to severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas.
The network of rain gauges reported an exceptional pattern of rainfall: dozens of stations exceeded 100 millimeters, and in several locations, the totals far surpassed typical records, while the residual moisture from the system continued to fuel downpours throughout the rest of the day.
The testimony from Dantés illustrates the direct impact of the storm on small businesses and family economies in eastern Cuba, where material damage is compounded by power outages and communication disruptions that hinder immediate response and loss assessment.
In their case, natural drainage allowed for the recovery to begin, but the final outcome will depend on the condition of equipment, furniture, and supplies after the flooding.
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