Power Outages Plague Cuba Post-Hurricane Rafael: ENPOSS Offers a Solution

Cuban authorities scrambled to restore electricity throughout the island Thursday after Hurricane Rafael knocked out power to 10 million people. The hurricane's wrath knocked out Cuba's entire electrical grid Wednesday afternoon after it tore through the island with winds reaching 115 mph, toppling homes, uprooting trees and breaking down power poles.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Rafael had churned some 250 km northwest of Havana and into the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday morning, no longer a direct threat. Still, the storm left Cuba's already vulnerable grid in tatters-the system that had collapsed in large parts of the country in recent days and cut off electricity to millions of residents for days.

The ministry started work late Wednesday to restore the national grid, although they said it would take longer to fully power up western areas, which suffered the most damage. Some circuits reported to state media that they have regained electricity, but large parts of Havana remained without electricity Thursday morning.

Rafael was the second hurricane to crash into Cuba in less than a month, after Hurricane Oscar ravaged the island in October. The new storm further strained Cuba's crumbling oil-fired plants, which have been increasingly vulnerable as imports of oil from former allies Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico have dwindled. Hours-long rolling blackouts are now commonplace across much of the country.

Heavy rain continued to fall in Havana early Thursday, with pounding surf flooding the Malecon boulevard and low-lying streets. Downed trees and debris blocked many roadways, slowing recovery efforts. Authorities said Havana's airport would remain shut down at least until midday Thursday.

Launched in the key agricultural province of Artemisa, an emergency harvest of fruits and vegetables was implemented to avert total crop loss amid severe food shortages. State-run media spread photos of toppled power lines, metal roofs scattered across streets, shattered windows, and general flooding.

Hurricane Rafael made a close call with the Cayman Islands, having been classified as only a Category 1 storm, after growing into a Category 3 hurricane, before hitting Cuba's southwestern coast with even more force.

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