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A severe local storm hit the city of Bayamo, the capital of the province of Granma, this Monday, causing preliminary damages to 85 homes and 19 state centers and institutions, according to the assessment conducted overnight by the authorities of the Communist Party and the provincial government.
The phenomenon was recorded in the afternoon and included winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, hailstones comparable in size to a pea or a chickpea, and 81.5 millimeters of rain in just one hour, according to data from the Provincial Meteorological Center.
In addition to the damaged homes and state centers, the storm caused disruptions in the electrical and telephone infrastructure, as well as downed trees in several neighborhoods in the capital of Granma.
Among the affected centers are the Mártires de Barbados Stadium, the Guajiro Natural Cultural Recreational Center, and the Fernández de Castro Park.
The First Secretary of the Party in the province, Yudelkis Ortiz Barceló, and Governor Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez toured the affected areas alongside municipal work teams to assess the damage and organize an immediate response.
The first secretary of the Party in Bayamo, Michel Carlos Santiesteban, confirmed that crews of linemen and teams from ETECSA were organized to begin recovery efforts in the early hours of Tuesday.
The authorities activated the defense zones and called on young people, workers, and the general population to participate in cleanup activities. "Tomorrow will be a strong day of combat and popular participation," stated Ortiz Barceló.
Despite the intensity of the phenomenon, the authorities confirmed that no loss of human life has been reported.
The event was not isolated: on that same Monday, a storm destroyed nine of the twelve solar panels of the Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba.
Bayamo has a recent history of similar episodes. In August 2025, golf ball-sized hail fell on the city during another event of severe local storm, and in July 2020 a storm caused damage to 36 homes, resulting in two total collapses and 13 completely lost roofs.
Both events this Monday are part of the start of the 2026 rainy season, which lasts from May to October. The Meteorological Institute had predicted that May would bring temperatures above historical averages throughout the country, a condition that fosters atmospheric instability and the development of intense convective storms.
The impact of the storm is exacerbated by the deteriorated state of Granma's electrical infrastructure: the availability of the National Electric System was only 1,070 MW against a demand of 2,545 MW, with a projected deficit of over 2,000 MW during peak hours.
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