As dawn breaks over Baracoa, the aftermath of Hurricane Oscar reveals a scene of significant destruction following the storm's landfall near the historic town in eastern Cuba at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday. The hurricane's winds, reaching approximately 80 mph, have left a trail of devastation in the Villa Primada. Roofless homes and businesses, toppled trees, destroyed crops, and damaged power lines paint a grim picture of the storm's impact.
Radio Baracoa reported on social media, "Several houses and state buildings have lost their roofs, with debris and fallen trees scattered throughout the Jamal neighborhood in Baracoa." As Oscar approached Cuba's shores on Sunday, social media users shared images capturing the storm's intense winds, heavy rains, and massive waves, illustrating the severe impact on the island's easternmost region.
This morning, Radio Baracoa updated, "In El Jamal, Baracoa. Light rain is falling now, and locals are surveying the damage left by Oscar's passage last evening," accompanied by new photos and videos of the destruction.
Power Crisis Exacerbated by the Storm
Oscar's arrival has worsened the already dire situation in Cuba's eastern region, which has been without power since Friday morning due to a complete collapse of the National Electric System (SEN). More than 72 hours later, authorities, officials from the Electric Union, and technicians from the thermoelectric plants have yet to fully recover from the SEN's breakdown, attributed to a lack of maintenance and investment in power generation.
Since Friday, efforts to restore the SEN have been plagued by numerous full and partial outages. On Saturday morning, another attempt to rehabilitate the system ended in failure. That night, the government announced that electricity had been restored to just 11% of the country, but a subsequent issue caused the SEN to fail once more.
By Sunday afternoon, another complete outage occurred—the fourth since Friday—following a "trip" at the 10 de Octubre Thermoelectric Plant in Nuevitas, Camagüey.