A distraught father is desperately searching for his daughter and two grandchildren, who were caught in sudden floods on Sunday night in San Antonio del Sur, a municipality in Guantánamo. These devastating floods were the result of heavy rains brought by Hurricane Oscar.
In a video released on Monday by the social media page La Tijera, which is now circulating widely, the man pleaded for assistance in locating his loved ones. They reside in this southern coastal town, where several communities have been cut off by the severe flooding.
Guantánamo bore the brunt of the hurricane's fury, enduring 25 hours of battering after Oscar made landfall near Baracoa on Sunday afternoon.
Speaking from Santiago de Cuba, the father voiced his deep concern and appealed for help and information regarding his family’s whereabouts in San Antonio del Sur, a place where he claimed, "nothing like this has ever happened before."
He shared chilling details of a phone call he managed to have with his daughter early Monday morning, before losing contact. "My daughter had to leave the house at midnight as it was suddenly flooded. The refrigerator was floating up to the ceiling," he recounted.
Desperate Escape Amid Rising Waters
They were forced to evacuate urgently, seeking refuge in a second-floor dwelling, but even there the water was rising to their feet. "There wasn’t a single emergency boat available," he described, recounting the terrifying ordeal his family went through.
The father lamented that he still had no information about his daughter and grandchildren’s condition. "My daughter and granddaughter, along with two grandsons, live there. I do not know their situation," he said sorrowfully.
He criticized the government for its absence during this "critical situation," stating, "I called for help from the fire department, hoping for a boat. None came."
Lack of Communication and Power Outages
He emphasized the communication blackout with San Antonio del Sur and the widespread power outage in the eastern region, which left the entire country without electricity since last Friday. "There's no communication, no power, no internet... We're completely isolated," he stressed, appealing for any form of communication about his family. "We need help, at least to be informed somehow," he insisted, before the video abruptly ended, urging, "And they cannot die."
Hurricane Oscar struck Cuba last Sunday as a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds up to 130 km/h. Although it weakened to a tropical storm as it moved over eastern Cuba, it left a trail of destruction, with Guantánamo suffering the most.
The flooding in San Antonio del Sur and Imías has been catastrophic due to the rivers' significant swells from the rains. The situation remains dire, even though the cyclone departed Cuba on Monday night.
Authorities reported that at least six people perished in San Antonio del Sur, including a five-year-old girl, and one person died in Imías. On Monday, officials announced ongoing rescue operations, as some areas remain entirely inundated and inaccessible.