The overflow of the Guásimas creek in the municipality of Cárdenas, Matanzas province, left several homes flooded this Saturday after the heavy rain that fell during the night on Friday and into Saturday morning.
The first images and testimonials were shared by citizen journalist Christian Arbolaez, who documented the situation with information from the ground and raised awareness about the extent of the damages.
Arbolaez received a testimony from a resident who arrived in the area at eight in the morning: "Everything is flooded. Water has entered the houses and in some places it reaches a height of one meter. It's sad and painful, brother. It's shocking to see so many houses underwater."
The captured images show completely flooded streets with murky brown water; leaning power poles and humble homes with visible damage.
The damages are concentrated in the Guásimas neighborhood, specifically on the street located at the end of the ETECSA minipoint, according to testimonies. Initial reports indicate that the water level reached approximately one meter in height inside some homes, a figure that reflects the severity of the event.
Arbolaez noted that in addition to the intensity of the rainfall, there is "concern over the lack of maintenance of the culverts and drainage systems," and asked, "How long will we have to wait for these issues to be addressed?"
A neighbor who tried to ride his bike through those streets around nine in the morning described it as "almost impossible to pass" and attributed part of the problem to the "excess amount of garbage that obstructs the flow of water."
Comments from residents on social media point to a long-standing structural problem. "The Guásimas stream is the dump," wrote a user. Another person explained that "it hasn't been maintained in years" and that many neighbors throw trash into the stream, worsening the overflow during any heavy rain.
A resident with a historical memory of the area recalled that in the past there was a network of ditches running "from Alturas de Varadero to the Guásimas stream and flowing into the sea," which was regularly maintained. "They covered them all up, and the natural way to relieve that rainwater came to an end; the consequences are evident."
The affected area is described by its own residents as "a hole," meaning a topographical depression that collects water when the stream overflows. One internet user summarized: "If it rains for two consecutive days [...] the stream fills up [...] and boom, that part of Guásimas floods." Another resident who experienced the distress from Friday to Saturday wrote: "I thought I wouldn't escape," and urged neighbors to come together to clean the stream in light of the authorities' inaction.
The sanitation crisis in the province of Matanzas has documented precedents. In May, the Municipal Communal Company of the provincial capital had only 11 operational trucks, compared to the 24 or 25 it could mobilize with support from other entities, as acknowledged by its managers. The shortage of fuel hindered waste collection and favored the proliferation of dumpsites.
On the other hand, several similar natural events have been recorded in the province throughout 2026: in September, torrential rains flooded the center of the capital city due to the collapse of the urban drainage system, and earlier this month, a severe storm caused damage in the municipality of Perico, where roofs were torn off and streets were flooded.
October, the last month of the Cuban rainy season—which runs from May to October—still poses a risk of heavy rainfall and flash floods. In this context, the accumulation of trash in waterways and drainage systems adds an extra danger for communities susceptible to flooding, such as could happen in the Guásimas neighborhood in Cárdenas if its stream becomes clogged.
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