Just a few hours after Hurricane Melissa struck eastern Cuba, the province of Holguín woke up to a landscape that reveals a silent tension.
In a spontaneous video tour, a young man from Holguín set up his camera and spoke directly: “Look... the Jigüe River, I think... it seems the river rose, but it didn't take away any houses...”.
With popular phrases typical of everyday speech, the young man identified on TikTok as @elpelvico describes what he finds after the storm: uprooted trees, partially impassable and wet streets, and the feeling that "everything is okay, but..."
"Some trees fell around here, but I don't see any broken or toppled houses," he says while showing pictures of the boulevard in Holguín, San José Park, and Guarro Street, where the river's current swept away soil and branches.
The young man also refers to the electrical situation in the province:
"I hope nothing goes wrong, because electricity is expensive, you know? There’s no power in all of Holguín, as you can see."
The videos are not an official piece, nor are they a government statement, but rather a testimony from the people, from the neighborhood: "I’m doing everything I can to help, sir. I will upload the videos from the tower I'm going to climb," he says despite the communication limitations.
For Cubans both on and off the island, this testimony holds a special significance as it conveys the true pulse of a city after a storm, revealing not just devastation or desolation, but the latent fragility of basic services, the routines that are affected, and the solidarity that emerges.
In the images from @elpelvico, uprooted trees can be seen in front of the El Dragón Rojo playground, a collapsed wall near the Saratoga hotel, and a broken window at the Hanoi store.
The hurricane Melissa made landfall in the early morning of October 29, 2025, impacting the provinces of Holguín, Granma, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba with heavy rains and gusty winds.
In Holguín, authorities had declared a cyclone alarm phase, deploying river cleaning brigades and preventive tree pruning, according to local media.
During the hurricane's passage, the entire eastern territory lost electricity, and communications were intermittent. On social media, users from Holguín shared images of flooded streets, damaged roofs, and fallen trees on public roads.
Filed under:
