“It was a nightmare,” described a resident of the town of Veguitas, in the province of Granma, the terrifying moments she experienced with her family during the flooding caused by Hurricane Melissa and the subsequent release of water from the dam that supplies the area.
In a video published on her social media, Facebook user M. Vázquez recounted how the water flooded her home and those of her neighbors, forcing them to seek refuge on the rooftop to save their most important belongings.
“My house and all the others are flooded, filled with a huge fright and the urge to cry, gathering strength every second to get the most important things up to the roof. Honestly, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”, he wrote.
The young woman explained that they were without communication or electricity for more than 24 hours, completely cut off while the water level continued to rise.
Now to try to recover what we can and clean up because everything is covered in mud, she emphasized.
Several areas of Granma are on alert due to the extreme situation caused by the rising rivers, including the Cauto, and dam overflows.
In the last few hours, the Cuban Civil Defense declared the cyclonic alarm phase for the municipalities of Río Cauto and Cauto Cristo, due to the overflowing of the Cauto River —the longest in the country— which reached historic levels.
Authorities confirmed that accumulated rainfall has exceeded 500 millimeters in some areas, while they remain on alert due to the risk of new landslides and flooding.
In Veguitas, according to local testimonies, the situation worsened after the controlled release of water from a nearby dam, a measure taken to prevent its collapse. However, this action increased the level of flooding in residential areas.
“It wasn't just the hurricane, it was the water from the dam that was released…” Vázquez denounced in his post, showing images of the torrent covering the streets up to window level.
Local authorities have not yet reported the total number of evacuees in Veguitas, but provincial media confirmed that brigades from the Municipal Defense Council remain in the area, assisting affected families and assessing structural damage to homes and roads.
His testimony joins that of hundreds of Cubans who, in recent days, have shared on social media the extent of the disaster left by Melissa, amidst the lack of official information and communication difficulties.
With eastern Cuba still in a state of emergency, rescue teams remain deployed, and efforts are underway to clean and recover the most affected areas.
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